Sean Dyche would have no qualms about welcoming the potential pitfalls of Europa League football. Burnley are now favourites to claim seventh spot in the Premier League after beating their nearest rivals Leicester to open up a nine-point gap with five games left.

Provided Southampton do not pull off an FA Cup triumph, seventh will be enough to secure European football, something Burnley have not experienced for more than 50 years.

Dyche’s remarkable success has been built on a small, tight squad and meticulous preparation, things that would be severely tested by the Europa League. But he said: “How can there be a negative? Five and a half years ago we were 16th in the Championship. It’s impossible for there to be a negative. For Burnley even to be spoken about, it’s a long, long way from where we were. We’ll see where it goes. We’re in very good shape.”

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Burnley could not have made a better start to such an important game, going two up inside nine minutes through the former Leicester striker Chris Wood and the defender Kevin Long.

The remaining 80 minutes were much trickier, with Leicester having 15 shots in total to Burnley’s eight and more than 60% possession but all they had to show for it was Jamie Vardy’s 72nd-minute goal.

“We’ve had to work for everything,” said Dyche, whose side made it five consecutive top-flight wins for the first time since 1968. “I thought we had a very fast start, a pretty decent first half, and then second half we started well, but 2-0 is a funny scoreline, especially at this stage of the season. They’ve got nothing to lose and they played like that. It’s very difficult to get five wins on the trot, so I’m very pleased overall.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chris Wood converts the opening goal. Photograph: Rich Linley/CameraSport via Getty Images

Both managers had quibbles with referee Martin Atkinson, who turned down two Burnley penalty appeals in a matter of moments in the second half.

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It is now a year since the Clarets were awarded a spot-kick, and Dyche said: “It’s impossible, or at least improbable in modern football. I’m not going to go there, there’s no point. It might be like in Comedy Capers, where they pull a club out and bang them on the head, and then we might get one.”Claude Puel felt Ashley Barnes should have been shown red rather than yellow for a challenge on Kasper Schmeichel that meant the goalkeeper had to be replaced. “I think maybe the player deserved another colour of card but I hope we can have Kasper for the next game,” the Leicester manager said.

Puel admitted his side’s hopes of European football are now hanging by a thread but was happy with the response to their poor start. “I think except the first 10 minutes it was a good performance. It was crazy to have all the chances and to finish with one goal.

“At the beginning we made things easy for the opposition. I was surprised because there was good concentration before the game and to concede these two goals so quickly, it was difficult to accept. For me it’s not a fair result but I would like to send all my congratulations to Sean and his squad.”