The Clarets face Stoke City in the Britannia Stadium this Saturday looking for their second win of the season and their first one on the road.
The Pre-amble:
It was all joy for Clarets fans in our last game at home to Hull City just before the international break. At long last after ten league games and one Capital Cup game trying we picked up our first win of the season beating the Tigers 1-0. Let us now hope that victory has kick started our season and we can now climb away from bottom place and the relegation zone. In a way perhaps it`s a shame the international break came just after that win but let`s hope the momentum is still there when we play Stoke City in the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. It would be amazing to get our first away win and first back-to-back win on the board as well but it will certainly be a tough task.
Stoke City are by no means unbeatable but they are doing pretty well in the league at the moment. They are currently in 9th spot with 15 points from 11 games and they will have been buoyed up following their 1-0 away win against Spurs at White Hart Lane before the break. Their home form though has not been that impressive in recent times. In the league they may have won three of their six games at home but they have also lost two and drawn one. Burnley will also be encouraged by the fact that the two defeats were against teams also struggling at the wrong end of the table. Stoke lost 1-0 to both Leicester and Villa. Last month they also lost 3-2 at home to Southampton in the Capital One Cup.
It would be good to inflict another home defeat on Mark Hughes men and that would certainly help our survival chances and keep our momentum moving in the right direction. Burnley might be bottom but there are plenty of struggling teams above us who could be easily caught with a few wins under our belt. The Clarets now have 7 points from 11 games just one point behind second from bottom QPR and two behind Leicester and Crystal Palace in 18th and 17th place respectively. Aston Villa who we play next at home after the Stoke game are in 16th spot and they are only four points ahead of Burnley.
Stoke City Team News:
Stoke City midfielder Glenn Whelan broke his leg during the Republic of Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Germany in their European Championship qualifier in Gelsenkirchen back in October and looked set to remain sidelined for a few weeks. The 30 year old though was a surprise late addition to the Republic of Ireland squad for last Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland at Celtic Park. Although he trained with his team mates he was not selected for the Scotland game nor the friendly against USA on Monday. It remains to be seen therefore whether he will be in contention for Stoke on Saturday.
Another player who could be still sidelined is defender, Dionatan Teixeira. The Slovakian Under-21 international broke his foot in training recently and missed the Spurs game before the international break. It was thought he would be out for a couple of weeks and he may well have recovered but news is awaited ahead of the Saturday`s game.
Player to watch: Mame Biram Diouf
Diouf is currently Stoke`s leading joint scorer with four goals so far this season an honour he shares with fellow striker, Jon Walters. The 26 year old Senegal international forward joined Stoke from Hannover 96 in July 2014 after agreeing a four year contract. Before joining Hannover 96 in January 2012, Diouf was a Manchester United player and he also had a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers during his time at Old Trafford.
Burnley Team News:
Sam Vokes remains the only long-term injured player following surgery last season to fix a cruciate ligament injury but he is making good progress. Matty Taylor is also still recovering from recent surgery to fix a niggling Achilles problem. The international break will have provided further time for any other niggling injuries to settle but unfortunately it looks like Nathaniel Chalobah could be sidelined after picking up an injury whilst playing for the England Under 21 side against France in Brest on Monday,
Player to watch: Danny Ings
Danny Ings returns from international duty with two goals under his belt after scoring a brace for England Under 21 in their friendly match at Turf Moor against Portugal Under 21 last week. He looks to have found his goal-scoring touch so let`s hope that continues against Stoke on Saturday.
Team & Tactics:
With the possible exception of Chalobah, Dyche could name an unchanged eighteen against Stoke this Saturday showing faith in the team that picked up their first win against Hull at home before the international break. It looks likely that once again the gaffer will not be tempted to play the more defence minded 4-5-1 opting instead to play two strikers up front. Ings back from England Under 21 duty looks certain to start and the question is likely to be who will be his partner. Ashley Barnes making his first home start impressed against Hull City in the last game scoring his first goal and he could get the nod again ahead of Lukas Jutkiewicz. The line-up then (assuming Chalobah is sidelined) could be as follows :
Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Ward, Arfield, Marney, Jones, Boyd, Ings, Barnes
Subs from: Gilks, Keane, Mee, Reid, Wallace, Kightly, Sordell, Jutkiewicz
Ref Watch:
West Yorkshire referee Martin Atkinson will be the man in charge. In his thirteen games so far this season he is yet to send a player off the pitch but has handed out 47 yellow cards.
If you are looking for a good omen you might be interested in the fact that his last game involving the Clarets was against Hull City in the KC Stadium back in 2010, the last time we played in the top flight before this season! We won that one 4-1. Six players picked up a yellow card that day but thankfully only one of them, Tyrone Mears was a Burnley player.
Match Prediction:
The Britannia Stadum is always a difficult place to go to and pick up points but I just have a sneaky feeling we could be on a roll after picking up our first win before the international break. It is certainly a winnable game although once again we face a club in the top ten. Oh what the heck 2-1 to the Clarets!
Next Match:
Aston Villa are the visitors to Turf Moor a week on Saturday. We play the Villains on Saturday 29th November (Kick-Off: 3pm)
