Vincent Kompany is ready to welcome back Lyle Foster for Tuesday’s trip to Luton as his Burnley side continue to struggle for goals in the Premier League.
Burnley, the league’s lowest scorers with only four goals in six games, will welcome Foster back from suspension and hope the 23-year-old can quickly get back into the groove having scored two in five for the Clarets as well as finding the net for South Africa already this season.
“It’s massive,” Kompany said of Foster’s return. “Zeki (Amdouni) and Jay Rodriguez have done well with the time they’ve had up top and in every game we’ve had at least two or three big chances.
“We’re not lacking goals for the lack of creating chances, we just don’t put them away.
“We have to believe performances are good and we keep creating chances but playing top sides is difficult. But we have to believe we’re on the right track to get results.”
Burnley remain winless after their opening six games of the season – with a tough fixture list having already paired them up against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Manchester United and Newcastle.
The trip to Luton was originally scheduled for the second week of the season but was postponed as work to improve Kenilworth Road continued and a match against a fellow promoted side now has the look of a must-win game as Burnley look to get off the mark before the international break.
“We have that expectation of ourselves for every game,” Kompany said when asked if there was extra pressure. “We’re used to it. Last year we felt we had that expectation.
“It’s not necessarily bad. It’s about approaching a game as you have to, prepare well, get there and believe in the fact you can score goals and defend.
“These games, I don’t think it should be any different. I know the outside world will have a different view but we have to approach the game the same way.”
Kompany has been consistent throughout the opening weeks of the campaign in talking up the potential of his young team – the average age of their starting eleven has been the youngest in the Premier League so far this term – while acknowledging there will be growing pains.
But there is also a recognition that message can only continue for so long. Points must soon be put on the board.
“There have been some good performances but now it’s about results,” Kompany said. “Always with the idea that performances bring results and I hope we can materialise that very quickly.
“We’re going to keep fighting for it every single game and it will come. It’s not been far off. We had the Forest game (a 1-1 draw) that could have gone our way, the performance against United, and Newcastle is as tough a place as you can go.
“But we’ve been in games. We have to keep doing that. It’s not easy but eventually we will get results.”