Burnley struggling to get out of the bottom three have another difficult challenge ahead on Wednesday night when they face 5th placed Liverpool at Anfield.
The Pre-amble:
The Clarets are not in a good place at the moment and despite recent high spots including draws against Manchester City, Newcastle United and Chelsea on the road we have not recorded a league win now in six games and indeed only have that solitary 2-1 home win against QPR to cheer about in the last eleven top flight matches. Our home form in particular has been poor and the concept of ‘Fortress Turf Moor` appears to have deserted the Clarets! The end result is that we remain firmly struck in the relegation zone currently third from bottom. Aston Villa remain below us on goal difference with Leicester in bottom place four points behind both clubs with a game in hand. Burnley only have 22 points from 27 games and the situation is looking bleak although 36 points are still up for grabs with 12 games still to play until the end of the season. The problem for the Clarets in that the next five games starting with Liverpool on Wednesday night are all against clubs in the top seven continuing this awful sequence of eight league games against clubs in the top ten. In the first three games we played well at Old Trafford but lost 3-1, picked up a magical point away to league leaders Chelsea but then disappointingly lost to 9th placed Swansea 1-0 at home last Saturday. That game was arguably our best chance of this eight game sequence to pick up points and we failed to do so making Burnley`s survival chances now even less. Clubs fighting to avoid the drop are still not getting too far ahead but with some difficult games coming up that could be the case come the 11th April when these eight games will have been played. It does make good reading for the Clarets knowing we have to play Liverpool away on Wednesday night followed by Man City at Turf Moor, Southampton at St Marys and then Spurs and Arsenal at home! Somehow we need to pick up points but can you see where they might be coming from in these next five games? We need luck, we need a miracle or two and above all we need to win a few! If anybody can achieve this it will be Sean Dyche but what a task he faces. How cruel this season is turning out to be so far though. We badly need a lift and some hope to latch onto.
Liverpool face Burnley on Wednesday night buoyed up by the fact that in Sunday`s game they defeated Manchester City 2-1 at Anfield to move up a place into 5th spot. The Reds will be looking to achieve the double over the Clarets following their somewhat lucky 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor in December and somehow we have to prevent them achieving it. Liverpool`s recent improvement in form has seen Brendan Rodgers men undefeated in eleven top flight games, a sequence involving eight wins and three draws. They have not lost a Premier League game since going down 3-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday 14th December last year. It`s about time they lost another and let`s hope that Burnley can rock the boat and help scupper Liverpool`s European ambitions.
Liverpool Team News:
Jordan Ibe who sat out Sunday`s 2-1 win over Manchester City will be sidelined for a few weeks after suffering a knee injury. The 19 year old winger sustained the injury after twisting his knee while in action for Liverpool last week in the Europa League defeat by Besiktas. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is also still out with a hamstring injury although he is close to making a comeback.
It will be interesting also to see if Brendan Rodgers decides to rest any of his players in light of their busy schedule in the Europa League and FA Cup. He might be tempted for example to drop Sterling and Lallana completely or name them on the bench while Balotelli and Sturridge could return to the starting eleven.
Player to watch: Philippe Coutinho
The 22 year old Brazilian international winger and attacking midfielder, Philippe Coutinho could be the danger man against the Clarets. He has a tendency to score and has five goals so far to his name including the impressive winner in the 2-1 victory at home to Manchester City last Sunday. Liverpool reportedly agreed a £8.5m fee with Internazionale for Coutinho in January 2013 and following a successful work permit application he signed at the end of that month on a long term deal. He has since scored 12 goals in 70 appearances for the Reds which is not a bad a scoring rate for a midfielder.
Burnley Team News:
There does appear to be any fresh injuries from the Swansea clash for Sean Dyche to worry about. Both Kevin Long and Dean Marney are of course out for the rest of the season with cruciate ligament injuries and it is probably still too early for Matty Taylor to be in contention. He has been sidelined since the end of August when he last featured in the home game against Manchester United. He then underwent surgery to fix an Achilles problem and is now thought to be close to making a return.
Player to watch: Danny Ings
The rumours and gossip suggest Danny Ings could become a Liverpool player in the summer although Real Sociedad, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United amongst others might have something to say about that. It will be interesting to see how well he performs against his potential new paymasters on Wednesday night but I am sure Clarets fans will not complain if he plays his heart out and gets a goal or three!!
Team & Tactics:
Sean Dyche looks likely to name the same eighteen for the third game running. Our line-up once again could be as follows:
Heaton, Trippier, Shackell, Keane, Mee, Kightly, Arfield, Jones, Boyd, Ings, Barnes
Subs from: Gilks, Reid, Duff, Ward, Wallace, Jutkiewicz, Vokes
Ref Watch:
Lee Mason gets this clash! The Lancashire referee only recently featured in a match involving the Clarets being in charge of our game away to Sunderland last January. It was a game we sadly lost 2-0 and Mason handed out four yellow cards that day. In his 22 games so far this season, five players have seen red and another 75 yellow.
Match Prediction:
Everything related to my little grey cells is telling me we face certain defeat but in my heart something tells me we might scrape a draw! Nuts I know 1-1!!
Next Match:
The Clarets face a break from their current gruelling eight match sequence against sides in the top ten this weekend but only because they are not playing over the weekend due to the FA Cup 6th round ties. It does not get any easier after that though with current second-placed club, Manchester City the visitors to Turf Moor on Saturday 14th March. This game is being covered live by Sky Sports too so kicks-off late at 5:30pm.
