Jack Cork has promised Burnley will not be getting carried away by their rise up the Premier League table.
Burnley climbed five places to 12th after securing back-to-back league wins for the first time since April with a 2-1 victory at Cardiff on Sunday.
The Clarets were bottom after picking up only one point from their opening five games, but successive victories over Bournemouth and Cardiff have lifted the early-season gloom at Turf Moor.
“I’d like to think we’ve turned the corner,” Cork said after goals from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Sam Vokes secured a smash-and-grab success in the Welsh capital.
“But it’s still really early in the season and I don’t want to get carried away with it by saying we might be able to do what we did last year.
“All it takes is a couple of bad results and a bad run and you’re back to where you started.
“We had a long bad run last year where we went 12-13 games without a win, but we managed to bounce back with five straight wins.”
Burnley’s early-season difficulties were blamed on their involvement in the Europa League.
Their season started in late-July and six games in the competition, as well as trips to Turkey and Greece immediately before league fixtures, stretched Sean Dyche’s squad.
“I loved the Europa League and I hope everybody enjoyed it,” Cork said.
“But it took a lot out of us because we don’t have the biggest of squads.
“It was a shame we couldn’t get through because we’d have had some very good games in the group stages.
“But it would probably have impacted us in the league too and that is our main priority.
“I feel it’s worked out well because we can now give the league the attention it deserves.”
The picture does not look so rosy for a Cardiff side who have yet to win since returning to the Premier League.
The Burnley defeat was their fifth in seven games, and fourth in a row.
Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds already appear to be in a relegation scrap and away days at Tottenham and Liverpool feature in two of their next three games.
But Cardiff midfielder Callum Paterson insisted: “Our heads aren’t down. Absolutely not.
“We’ve always been a positive team and we did well to get to the Premier League last year.
“We had our ups and downs then as every team has them.
“We’ve not started great, we know that. But we just need to look to build with each game and keep at it.”
