Top 5 surprises of the 2017-18 Premier League season

Manchester City v Huddersfield Town - Premier League — Manchester City's league triumph is one of the best in the history of the Premier League

#3 Sean Dyche's Clarets to play European football next season

Burnley v West Ham United - Premier League — Sean Dyche has lead Burnley to the Europa League

In their first season after being promoted to the Premier League in 2016, Burnley managed to finish 16th on the table just six points above the drop zone.

Keeping that in mind, no one would have even thought that Burnley will be qualifying for European football this season.

The Clarets' goalscoring tally of 36 is the least by any team in the top 10, but it was their stern defence that only conceded 39 goals (Arsenal conceded 51, Chelsea and Liverpool conceded 38 and Tottenham conceded 36) that was the reason for this tremendous achievement of theirs.

A nice transfer kitty and it will be exciting to see how Sean Dyche and co. fare in Europe next season.

About the author

Dakir is a European and Indian football journalist at Sportskeeda with an overall experience of 10 years. Holding a Master’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication, and currently pursuing Master’s in Sports Journalism from Sheffield Hallam University, he is a seasoned football journalist who has interviewed the likes of former Liverpool star John Arne Riise, covered the entire 2022-23 Indian Super League season of the Kerala Blasters, and has delivered a seminar at an international conference held by St. Albert's College, Ernakulam.

Thanks to his extensive academic background in journalism, Dakir understands the importance of accuracy and spends a significant amount of time researching the subject. In today’s data-driven world of football, where players are perceived as machines, he prides himself amplify the voices of the people that make football the beautiful game that it is.

He started following football in 2013, and more specifically, Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, and admires Jurgen Klopp for his untouched charisma and unmatched legacy. A perpetual underdog supporter, he is a fan of under-fire Reds forward Darwin Nunez and can’t wait for him to show the world what he truly is. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s iconic “corner taken quickly” corner assist for Divock Origi in Liverpool’s 4-0 UCL semifinal win over Barcelona left a lasting impact on him.

When not writing, Dakir enjoys indulging in his guilty pleasure - watching mass commercial movies.

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Edited by Amit Mishra