Burnley play their first league away game of the season on Tuesday night travelling to the Riverside to face Middlesbrough.
The Pre-amble:
The Clarets have won their opening two games of the season so far after defeating Port Vale at Vale Park in the Capital One Cup clash last Tuesday night and then following that up on a Saturday with an impressive, emphatic win over Owen Coyle`s Bolton at Turf Moor. Can they now maintain the momentum and beat Middlesbrough at the Riverside in their first away league match of the new season? We shall have to hope the win over Bolton did not take too much out of them in the sweltering heat and humidity last Saturday. They were certainly up for it though and Eddie Howe will be hoping for a repeat performance against Tony Mowbray`s men on Tuesday night
Boro will be hoping to bounce back after a poor Championship start to the season following an opening-day 1-0 defeat at Barnsley. Mowbray will no doubt also be keen to seek revenge after the Clarets put in one of their best performances last season at the Riverside coming away with a 2-0 victory back in January.
Middlesbrough Team News:
Boro signed Chelsea 19 year old England Under-21 midfielder Josh McEachran on a season-long loan on Monday and he looks set to go straight into the starting eleven line-up.
Lukas Jutkiewicz (knee) will be out of contention though until mid-September, while Joe Bennett, also suffering with a knee injury, remains sidelined.
Mustapha Carayol is touch and go and may not be fit enough to play on Tuesday night. He is battling to recover from the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the Oakwell defeat. Kevin Thomson though could be available after recovery from a calf injury.
Player to watch: Rhys Williams
The former Burnley defender will be hoping to keep out our strikers on Tuesday night but will he succeed? It will be interesting to see if he has made any significant improvements in his play since impressing during his loan spell at Turf Moor. The Australian international, now 24 spent five months at Burnley on loan after signing in January 2009. Williams signed a three-and-a-half-year contract extension with Boro on February 2010 and this month he was named club captain. A versatile player he has played as a defensive midfielder, central defender, right fullback and more recently as an attacking midfielder. He comes from a footballing family with both his brothers also in the game including Burnley youth player, Aryn Williams. Ryan Williams currently plays for Fulham.
Burnley Team News:
Eddie Howe does not appear to have any fresh injury concerns following the impressive Bolton victory last Saturday. Only two players in his squad are out-of-contention. Danny Ings of course faces surgery to fix a torn cartilage and will be out of action for 3-6 months. Keith Treacy too is still struggling with a groin problem.
Player to watch: Chris McCann
McCann looks so much a better player this year! The feeling amongst fans is that being stripped of the captaincy has only helped his performance on the pitch. He looks so much sharper now without the burden of responsibility and is beginning to look more and more like the McCann of old. Let`s hope he puts in another great performance on Tuesday night.
Team & Tactics:
Clarets fans could be tempted to say ‘more of the same` after the stunning performance against Bolton on Saturday. The whole team were up for it so why drop anybody and dent their confidence?. With no fresh injury concerns or suspensions, why change a winning team? Eddie Howe could indeed be tempted to name the same starting eleven and bench plus adopt the same tactics with Marney playing a holding midfield role and Austin and Paterson both up front in attack.
I would be happy with naming the same eighteen again so let`s go with that:
Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Edgar, Mills, Wallace, McCann, Marney, Stanislas, Paterson, Austin
Substitutes: Jensen, Duff, Mee, Bartley, Stock, MacDonald, Vokes
Ref Watch:
Carl Boyeson takes charge of this one. The East Yorkshire referee was pretty hot on the red card count last season sending off eleven players in the 37 games he featured (almost one red every three games). 98 yellow cards were also shown. His last game involving the Clarets was only last April when we defeated Brighton 1-0 in a bad tempered game at Turf Moor that saw 7 yellow cards shown.
Match Prediction:
A draw would be a very good result and although it could be possible to sneak this one I will plump for a share of the spoils 2-2!
Next Match:
It`s another away game on the Saturday 25th August with the Clarets this time travelling to Huddersfield to play the newly promoted club in the John Smith`s Stadium (otherwise known as Galpharm). Kick-Off 3pm
