Scott Parker press conference: Burnley vs Leeds

Parker confirmed that Zeki Amdouni is still “some time away” after his cruciate ligament injury but he is “moving in the right direction”. Jordan Beyer will also not be “in contention for the foreseeable” after a set-back with his hamstring injury.

Connor Roberts needing a “little longer” to recover is a “big setback” for the team, but there is “better news” on Lyle Foster, who withdrew from the South Africa national squad, as it “seems to be a dead leg”.

On the statement from the ownership after they completed a takeover of La Liga club Espanyol: “They are the comments of someone who is hugely ambitious. That ambition is clearly there and I sense that ambition. That ambition for me is no different. Sometimes you are part of that journey and an early part of it. They are the owners’ ambitions, and when I sit down with him I’ve got my own ambitions as well for this football club.”

He added: “The main aim at first was to get out of the Championship and we did that. The next part and the ambition for us is to stay in this division. The longer part of that is down the road a little bit.”

Parker believes his side have given themselves “a brilliant opportunity” to meet their target of staying in the Premier League after facing “huge challenges” at the start. He said: “What gives me massive encouragement is how competitive we have been. There is still a lot of learning and we have fallen short a little bit. I don’t think we’ve fallen short by wide margins, and we need to continue that – we need to keep learning and keep growing.”

On the key things his side need to improve on: “Looking back in the first group of games we have had, we have probably just lacked at certain moments in concentration and a focus. It is what has just let ourselves down. Maybe there is a focus there we need to highlight.”

The Burnley boss feels his side have “been a real threat in our way”, despite questions around their goalscoring ability. Parker added: “I understand in the world we live in, and certainly the world I live in and us as players, you have one game where you may not be that threat or you have only had three shots and that gets magnified.”