Brady blow

The departure of Robbie Brady just before the half hour mark was a turning point in this game. Let’s hope it’s not a turning point in Burnley’s season.

The Clarets have had some terrible luck with knee injuries in recent years so they are surely due some good fortune and Sean Dyche will be keeping everything crossed that Brady’s injury isn’t as bad as feared.

He had been Burnley’s standout performer during the time he was on the pitch, finding pockets of space well and sending in some dangerous crosses.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Burnley were just beginning to see the best of the £13million man so to lose him for any length of time would be a major blow.

It certainly affected their chances of taking anything from the King Power Stadium. While Brady was on the pitch it looked a matter of time before the Clarets levelled, but they never quite looked as threatening once he’d gone off.

Pope’s mistake

All players make mistakes, but when you make an error as the last line of defence it tends to be a costly one and that was the case for Nick Pope on Saturday.

In fairness to Pope it’s the first mistake he’s made since coming into the side for Tom Heaton and considering his lack of Premier League experience and the pressure he was under that speaks volumes for the level of his performances.

Lancashire Telegraph:

It was always going to be a matter of time before a mistake arrived though and Saturday was the day as he failed to deal with Riyad Mahrez’s dipping cross, allowing Demarai Gray to score.

Pope dealt with it well though, he made some good saves as the game wore on and the Clarets came under pressure. While he’ll be keen to forget about the goal he can take some comfort from the way he shrugged it off and composed himself for the rest of the game.

Top half challengers

While there were no chants of Europe on Saturday there was enough evidence on the pitch to suggest that the Clarets can at least maintain a challenge for a top half finish.

In the first half they posed Leicester plenty of problems and while there was less to go on in the second half, and the Foxes created plenty of chances to put the game out of sight, Burnley could have levelled through Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

You would expect Leicester, rejuvenated under Claude Puel and with some excellent attacking options, to finish in the top half and they will certainly challenge for that ‘best of the rest’ seventh place.

But there looked to be little between the two sides on Saturday and Burnley can take heart from that, even if it was a second away defeat of the season.

Creativity

With Brady absent it leaves Gudmundsson as creator-in-chief for the Clarets. It’s certainly a job he is up to. He leads the assist charts for Burnley in the Premier League this season with four, which is one more than any Claret managed in the whole of last season.

Lancashire Telegraph:

But the joy of having Brady and Gudmundsson in the form they have been recently is the different options it gives you for getting at the opposition. Scott Arfield would be Brady’s natural replacement and while the Canada international has been an unsung hero of the Sean Dyche era he doesn’t offer the same threat on the ball as the Irishman.

A winger was on Dyche’s summer shopping list, with a move for Aaron Lennon collapsing on deadline day, so if Brady’s injury is as bad as feared then expect wide reinforcements to be the order of the day come January.

Bardsley

One area where Burnley are very well stocked at the moment is full-back. On the left Charlie Taylor is still waiting for his first league appearance but Dyche has been singing his praises at every available opportunity for the work he’s been doing away from the cameras.

However Phil Bardsley was presented with his chance this week after Matt Lowton suffered an injury against Arsenal and he grasped it. He was excellent at Bournemouth on Wednesday night and had a solid afternoon again at Leicester.

On the subject of Lowton is was good to see Burnley’s injured players in attendance at the King Power supporting their teammates, with Lowton, Heaton and Nahki Wells all travelling with the squad.