BURNLEY might be in the bottom three on Christmas Day, but Sean Dyche believes his side have come a long way since the first week of November.

After defeat at Arsenal on November 1 the Clarets had gone winless in their first 10 Premier League games, and pundits were asking if they would ever win a game.

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They returned to North London seven weeks on and again suffered defeat, but in the meantime they have won three times and drawn twice, a run that yielded 11 points and altered public opinion on Dyche’s side.

They arrived at White Hart Lane in 17th place, and although they are now back in the relegation zone after a 2-1 defeat, they are only two points off 14th.

“We have to remember where we’ve come from,” the Burnley manager said.

“There were a lot of stories at game 10 with all kinds of weird and wonderful stories, would we ever win a game, it was as bad as that, so we’ve come a long way since then.

“On Saturday there good signs of what we are about. Relentless in our attitude to try and win a game, we played with two strikers again to try to win the game and so nearly got something from the game, but they’re the margins of the Premier League, they’re tough margins.”

All the goals arrived in a frenetic first half, and while the strikes from Ashley Barnes and Erik Lamela were of the highest quality, Harry Kane’s opener was full of controversy.

Firstly Michael Keane was harshly penalised for a handball. Then Tottenham took a quick free kick, which would have found Christian Eriksen offside had he not stood aside at the last minute to allow Chadli to collect the pass.

Dyche admitted he was more upset with the initial free kick decision than the offside appeals, which distracted his back four and left them out of position for Chadli’s cross and Kane’s subsequent header.

“It’s hard for referees but Kane gets a little flick on the ball and I don’t think Keano can move, it’s ball to hand, there’s nothing he can do,” said Dyche.

“Then they take a quick free kick and we know the contentious issue of offside and who is and who isn’t.

“The rules say he isn’t interfering with play so we have to go with that, and we never really got back on the side of the ball because our players were reacting to the fact he was offside. It was just frustrating more than anything.”

Dyche was pleased with the quality of chances his side created, and hailed Barnes’ strike as ‘marvellous’.

The Clarets will now prepare for two fixtures in three days later in the week, with Liverpool visiting Turf Moor on Boxing Day, before Burnley head to Manchester City on Sunday.

They might look difficult games on paper, but Dyche is convinced his side can upset the odds.

“That’s a different level, but it doesn’t mean you can’t beat them,” he said.

“What I’m suggesting is that over a season it’s hard to be at that end of the market more often than not. But in a one off game you can win any game, I always thought that as a player and I certainly make sure the team believe in that.

“It’s a fantastic challenge; we can’t wait for the challenge.

“It’s Burnley Football Club in the Premier League. There was a time when people weren’t thinking of Burnley being in the Premier League. After the last time they probably thought ‘this might not come again’. We want the challenge.”