‘NOTHING TO LOSE’ SAYS KOMPANY AHEAD OF SPURS TRIP

Clarets boss looks ahead to Saturday’s London trip

Manager Vincent Kompany says his side have ‘nothing to lose’ as the Clarets face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon in the penultimate match of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.

Burnley take on Ange Postecoglou’s side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the final away game of the season with Kompany’s side five points from safety with six to play for.

Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, Kompany says full focus is on making something special this weekend ahead of the final weekend: “I wouldn’t describe this game as a high pressure game for us. I don’t think we have anything to lose, if you go into this weekend protecting a two-point lead I can see how that’s a different mindset.

“Perhaps I’d be trying to convince myself if I was saying there is no pressure at that moment, but in this case I genuinely believe it’s all opportunity and if that energy can live from now hopefully into the last game, I don’t want to think about the Forest game right now.

“I think this is our last game and I think that if we give ourselves a final v Forest that’s a final. This is our last game of the regular season and anything can happen on the final day of the season as you know.”

Kompany added: “We’ve got to believe. It doesn’t matter what game we have played, we played Newcastle and we had 17 shots, 17 attempts. We could have had another 10 if the final ball [was better] or we were a little bit better in our decision making.

“There is no surprise as well, it’s the reason why we are where we are. It’s the reason why you would pay top money on certain players because more often than not they make the right decision and more often than not they hit the target.

“But on any given day, players can do something special and that’s the mindset for Saturday. Can it be the day you do something special.”

When questioned on how himself and the team stay focussed during the final moments of the season, Kompany explained: “Point number one, you lead by example. You’re not just influencing the players you’re also influencing the staff. They are internal and they are important in terms of the impact they can have on the players.

“The second thing is, it doesn’t change too much from when I was a player myself or a captain in the team and how you would approach it towards your teammates who were maybe a little less experienced and maybe needed that confirmation.

“Everyone will know, they’ve heard it all before, but sometimes you need that confirmation, this is the way to handle this situation.

“The biggest thing is, you’re not necessarily born like this, you have to go through these situations to understand, it’s almost a process of elimination. You do it the other way, it goes wrong and then you say: ‘okay, let me do it this way’.

Heading into Saturday, Spurs have lost their last four games but the Clarets boss knows his side will face a challenging task in London as the hosts aim to clinch 4th position.

“I’ve no doubt we are able to put things in the right place and approach it in the right way, but you find out these things mostly on the day.

“We will find out on Saturday. You know how it is, every team when they have a defeat will try and react, they will try and rebel against the situation. They’re a great side with amazing players.

“In our case, we’ve always been able to put up something against teams like that and try and make it a game where we can hurt them as well.”