Burnley play their first Championship away game this season when they face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday.
The Pre-amble:
The Clarets despite a small squad and recently losing Charlie Austin have had a good pre-season in the friendlies plus a non-losing start in their competitive games. In the summer Burnley lost just one of the five warm-up friendlies in the opening game away to League 2, Morecambe. Since then though they have notched up a sequence of four friendly wins before opening the new Championship season with a pretty good 1-1 home draw against the much fancied Bolton Wanderers. On Tuesday night they played League Two, York City at Bootham Crescent in the first round of the Capital One Cup and convincingly won 4-0.
They now face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday in their first Championship game of the new season on the road. It would certainly be nice to pick up something from this clash and maintain our ‘non-losing` momentum. Dave Jones` men in contrast have had a pretty poor start to the new season. They are still looking for their first win of 2013-14. On the opening day of the season, they travelled down to London to face QPR and lost 2-1. In midweek, they suffered another 2-1 loss this time against League One, Rotherham in the New York Stadium in the first round of the Capital One Cup. Things went from bad to worse for the Owls when Jermaine Johnson was sent off for a head-butt late on earning himself a three-match ban.
Sheffield Wednesday Team News:
Midfielder, Jermaine Johnson will miss the Burnley game after being sent-off in the Rotherham game in midweek. His silly head butt earned him a three match ban and the wroth of Dave Jones! The Owls though didn`t pick up any new injuries against the Millers. Rafael Floro was only signed on Tuesday and immediately given his debut against Rotherham in place of the injured Joe Mattock. The defender has been ruled out for two-three weeks with a medial knee ligament injury. Reda Johnson is recovering from tendonitis and is back in training but looks unlikely to feature. Midfielder Kieran Lee will be sidelined for two months due to a hip injury that requires surgery. The club confirmed the 25-year-old will have an operation to resolve the problem and may be out of action until October. Also likely to miss out is defender Lewis Buxton. It looks like has failed to recover from a shin injury in time and so far he has not played at all this season.
Player to watch: Kamil Zayatte
Burnley will be hoping to get the better of Owls new centre back/defensive midfielder, Kamil Zayatte. Zayatte joined Sheffield Wednesday on a two-year contract at the beginning of this month. The 28 year old Guinea international trained with Wednesday in pre-season and impressed enough to earn a deal. Zayatte had spells with Konyaspor and Istanbul BB in Turkey but will be remembered more for his time on Hull City`s books. He notched up 71 appearances for the Tigers, initially on loan from Young Boys between 2008-2011.
Burnley Team News:
Michael Duff now appears to be the only player on the injured list and it remains to be seen if he can recover in time for the Owls clash. He has been suffering with a groin injury. Ben Mee played in the 1-0 defeat ‘behind-closed-doors` match against Leeds United in midweek and could be in contention after recovering from a knee injury. Sean Dyche has no new injury concerns following the 4-0 win in the Capital One Cup first round game against York City at Bootham Crescent on Tuesday night
Player to watch: Danny Ings
The striker so far appears to have taken over the mantle from Charlie Austin and can`t seem to stop scoring. With the goal against Bolton now officially allocated to him after some debate that it was an own goal by Wheater, Ings followed that up on Tuesday night with another goal against York city. Taking into account his summer pre-season performances in the friendlies, that means he has now scored in the last six games! He is on fire and hopefully the Owls will not be able to poor cold water on his efforts!
Team & Tactics:
Sean Dyche could be tempted to name the same eighteen for the third successive game of the season following the matches against Bolton and York. Ben Mee though could be in contention so Danny Lafferty could be looking over his shoulder. Why change a side though that has impressed so far this season? Lafferty also looked sharp and effective against York so I will plump for the same selection. That would mean we would line-up as follows:
Heaton, Trippier, Long, Shackell, Lafferty, Wallace, Marney, Jones, Stanislas, Ings, Vokes
Subs: Cisak, Edgar, O`Neill, Stock Arfield, Treacy, Noble,
Ref Watch:
David Webb is in charge of this War of the Roses clash. The County Durham referee based in Lancashire sent off 6 players last season from 34 games (Just under 1-in-6 games) and also flashed 105 yellows. One of those yellows was in the same fixture last season back in January 2013. This was the last time Webb was in charge of a game involving the Clarets and we won 2-0 that day thanks to a goal from former Owls loanee, Keith Treacy and another from Ross Wallace. Hopefully then Webb back in charge will be a good omen.
Match Prediction:
I fancy our chances at Hillsborough. The Owls are still looking for their first win of the season and could be nervous in their first game on home soil. Burnley have looked impressive in all departments and have played some attractive football so far this summer. We could have the upper hand again with confidence high. I will plump for a 2-1 win.
Next Match:
It`s back to Turf Moor on Saturday 17th August for a game against Championship new boys, Yeovil Town.
