Burnley have quickly reclaimed their place in the Premier League, returning to the top tier of English football after just one year away.

The Clarets clinched promotion by finishing second in the Championship, achieving the unique milestone of being the first team in England’s top four divisions to rack up 100 points and not win the title.

Across all 46 matches, Burnley suffered only two losses. They also went unbeaten at home and notched an impressive 30 clean sheets along the way.

So, what can Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers expect from Scott Parker and Burnley in the 2025/26 season?

In a three-part series dedicated to the Clarets, we’ll feature an in-depth examination of their defence and attack, but we kick things off with a detailed look at the man in the dugout.

To get a fan’s perspective, we’ve included insights from Adam Dennett of the excellent No Nay Never podcast.

The stats in this piece are taken from WhoScored.

WHAT TACTICS DO BURNLEY PLAY UNDER PARKER?

Burnley used a 4-2-3-1 formation in 2024/25, with two central midfielders screening the back four to help protect their defence.

The right-back would often ‘invert’, while the No 10 was more of a presser than a playmaker.

“Parker favours teams that dominate possession, building attacks through passing and switching play. He played a rigid 4-2-3-1 throughout with a key focus around organisation and players knowing their jobs, which made us solid.” – Adam Dennett

The structure allowed Burnley to effectively defend against counter-attacks, ensuring there were always plenty of bodies at the back.

Indeed, according to WhoScored, the Clarets conceded just once to a counter-attack all season.

It helped them concede only 16 goals in total, at an average of just 0.35 per game, the fewest ever in a 46-match season.

They also kept a record 30 clean sheets and never conceded more than one goal in a match.

“They have a special approach… they take pretty little risk with the ball, so if they lose the ball then it’s just in areas where they can’t be hurt on the counter-attack. This is why you never have a counter-attack or really dangerous transition against them. You have to prepare to create a chance always, more or less, against a compact block. Credit to Scott [Parker] for how he does this.” – Leeds United manager Daniel Farke on Burnley

“… after watching Dycheball for nearly a decade, us Clarets fans know a good defensive shape when we see one, and last year was glorious from that perspective. The defensive organisation was top class with the flat back four and two sitting midfielders (Cullen/Laurent), but the hard work started from the front, Flemming, Hannibal, Brownhill and Anthony pressing at the top end of the pitch. You could see the fight all over the pitch to win the ball. If the opposition did manage to break through the lines, invariably Esteve was there to sweep up with ease to get us out of trouble and Trafford was faultless through the season.” – Adam Dennett

The attacking players further ahead would push forward and, as above, press as a unit, with two pacey wingers flanking a centre-forward.

There was naturally a trade-off to Parker’s defence-first approach, however.

Notably, Burnley found the net just 69 times in 2024/25, ranking eighth in the Championship for expected goals (xG), which we’ll cover in much more detail in our dedicated attackers article.

There was admittedly more attacking threat in the final few months, but Burnley were sometimes boring to watch in 2024/25, a reputation that has followed Parker around ever since he started his coaching journey.

“You wouldn’t think 12 toothless nil-nils in the Championship would bode well for the massive step up in levels to the Premier League. Many pundits lazily jumped on this stat as Burnley ‘boring’ their way to promotion, but the last few months of the season tell a very different story. 16 wins and three draws in our last 19 games and 30 goals scored in our final 13 matches. A big part in the transformation was the signing of Marcus Edwards from Sporting in January. His quality on the ball gave the opposition something to think about and made such a difference to our previously one-dimensional attacks.” – Adam Dennett

Parker has at times faced criticism for his tactical rigidity, too, particularly regarding Burnley’s reliance on a 4-2-3-1 formation.

“Parker received a lot of criticism for his lack of flexibility with his tactics last season, but we managed to control a lot of games and got the balance bang on by the end of the season. He utilised different personnel depending on opposition. It’s worth noting that Parker’s tactics worked very well for us in games against the other sides at the top of the table, as we were unbeaten against Sheffield United and Leeds United, scoring five goals across the games and conceding just the once. Many Burnley fans think we’ll switch to a 3-4-2-1 with wing-backs in some games in the Premier League, which worked well in our FA Cup win at Southampton last season and should make us even more difficult to break down against better opposition.” – Adam Dennett

DOES PARKER LIKE A SETTLED SIDE OR WILL HE ROTATE?

*No longer at the club

Parker’s approach to team selection was fairly straightforward last season, with seven of Burnley’s squad making 39 starts or more.

The defensive unit remained settled, particularly in the middle, with goalkeeper James Trafford and centre-backs CJ Egan-Riley and Maxime Esteve racking up the starts.

Marcus Edwards, meanwhile, only joined Burnley on loan in January and quickly became a key member of the first team.

“Parker doesn’t rotate for the sake of it, but did make regular changes in some positions, particularly in central midfield and up front, with Hannibal and Josh Laurent rotating depending on opponent. Lyle Foster also started some games against sides that didn’t ‘park the bus’ to take advantage of any space in behind opposition defences.” – Adam Dennett

HOW DOES PARKER HANDLE THE PRESS – AND WILL HE GIVE US HONEST TEAM NEWS?

From past experience, Parker has generally been honest in his pressers.

Providing insight, Adam said:

“Much like many managers these days, Parker doesn’t give much away to the press, but he’s not dishonest. Luckily, we had a pretty good run with injuries throughout last season, that will need to continue if we are to make a fist of staying up this season.” – Adam Dennett

WHERE MIGHT PARKER STRENGTHEN IN THE SUMMER AND WHICH PLAYERS ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING THEIR PLACE?

Burnley have already signed last season’s loanees Edwards, Zian Flemming, Jaidon Anthony and Bashir Humphreys on permanent deals for a combined fee of roughly £33m.

Recent reports suggest Parker plans to bolster his squad in various other areas, although he may need to address gaps in goal and central defence if Trafford and Esteve depart.

Fellow centre-half Egan-Riley has already left for Marseille, too, while Brownhill is out of contract and yet to decide on his future.

Veterans Nathan Redmond and Jonjo Shelvey have been released.

“We’re in a very different position to the last time we were promoted, where we had key players such as Harwood-Bellis, Maatsen and Tella returning to parent clubs after loan spells. The board seem to have learned from their errors and we have already tied up the permanent signings of key loan players Humphreys, Anthony, Edwards and Flemming. This will limit what we’re able to do this summer having already spent upwards of £30m on those deals.

“The key areas to strengthen are in the full-back areas, and it would be great to add a striker to compete with Flemming and Foster. There may also be Trafford and Brownhill shaped holes to fill in the coming weeks! I expect Parker to bring experienced Premier League heads in to blend with the young squad and maintain what has been an excellent team spirit since he took the reins at Turf Moor.” – Adam Dennett

Our thanks again go to Adam for his valuable insight, more of which will be featured in the next two follow-up articles.