Burnley FC: 21-year-old is streets ahead of Josh Cullen in passing department | OneFootball

The numbers show that CJ Egan-Riley has completed more accurate passes than Josh Cullen in the Championship this season

Burnley are striving for an immediate Premier League return following last season's relegation from the top flight, and have made a strong start to their Championship campaign - without being particularly convincing on the pitch.

After nine games played, the Clarets sit third in the table and are behind league leaders Sunderland - as well as second-place Sheffield United - by just one point.

While former manager Vincent Kompany - who instilled an ethos of possession-based football - left Turf Moor over the summer to join Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, we can still expect to see the Clarets look to dominate the ball against Championship opponents this season under the stewardship of new boss Scott Parker.

During previous managerial spells, the former England midfielder steered both Fulham and Bournemouth to the Premier League from the second tier while ensuring his sides played attractive football, and Burnley fans will be hoping for more of the same this campaign.

Meanwhile, a key figure in Kompany's Clarets system was Josh Cullen, who can be seen as a midfield metronome due to his impressive passing ability.

In fact, no Burnley player completed more accurate passes per 90 minutes than Cullen in the Premier League last season, according to FotMob, but he is being outperformed by a surprising name right now in the early stages of 2024-25.

CJ Egan-Riley is outperforming Cullen in key passing stat

Cullen remains an important player for the Clarets, who has appeared in seven of the club's nine Championship games so far, and has been named in Parker's starting 11 on six occasions.

However, centre-back CJ Egan-Riley is currently proving more of a key asset towards the manager's philosophy of possession football, and has completed 80.2 accurate passes per 90 minutes, as per FotMob, and is vastly outperforming the Republic of Ireland international in this statistic.

In fact, although Cullen has completed the third most accurate passes per 90 out of any Clarets player so far this campaign, he has completed an average of 51.5 according to FotMob, which is somewhat dwarfed by Egan-Riley's 80.2.

Furthermore, fellow central defender Maxime Esteve has also produced more accurate passes per 90 than the midfielder, with 67.4 as per FotMob.

This is particularly impressive from Esteve, who has started in all nine of the Clarets' Championship encounters so far this term, while both Egan-Riley and Cullen have made six starts.

However, while both centre-backs are currently outperforming him in terms of accurate passes per 90, it must be stated that Cullen is still playing exceptionally well for the Lancashire outfit, and boasts an admirable overall pass accuracy of 89.5%, according to FotMob, which is slightly greater than that of Egan-Riley's 89.1%.

Burnley FC have a favourable run of fixtures which could swing passing stats

The ultimate goal for Parker and co this season is to earn an automatic promotion spot, so they will be vying to overtake at least one of Sheffield United or Sunderland in the coming weeks.

And while the Championship is a tough league which boasts high quality sides throughout the division, the Clarets have the potential to win all four of their next four games, which would help them bolster their promotion credentials.

In fact, in each of their next four fixtures, the Clarets will be taking on a side who currently occupy a bottom half spot in the second tier table, and will heavily fancy their chances against slightly weaker opponents.

Saturday sees Parker's men travel to Sheffield Wednesday, who sit 15th in the Championship, before a visit to Hull City which precedes clashes with Millwall and QPR, who are both currently in the bottom seven.

This run of games could help the Clarets in their quest to land a top-two spot, while the likes of Cullen, Esteve and Egan-Riley will all be keen to continue to display their respective passing ranges.

It is somewhat unusual to see Clarets midfielder Cullen being outperformed in the passing department by the club's centre-back duo, but frankly, it will not worry Parker if the Lancashire outfit continue to earn good results.