One of Vincent Kompany’s most bewildering decisions in his relegation season at Burnley was sidelining Josh Cullen.
In contrast, Scott Parker loves the 29-year-old Republic of Ireland international and made him club captain and first name on the team sheet.
The manager’s faith was rewarded on Saturday as Cullen bossed the show ahead of Sunderland’s quality midfield trio of Granit Xhaka, Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki.
Not only that, when team-mates were struggling to put chances away, Cullen popped up with a rare goal and capped his man-of-the-match performance with an outstanding pass for Jaidon Anthony to wrap up the points late on.