The Clarets return to League duty tomorrow against Plymouth Argyle at Turf Moor following their resounding success against League 1 leaders, Oldham in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.
That 3-0 home victory was a convincing win and our second match in succession in which we kept a clean sheet. Somewhat encouraging considering we leaked seven goals in our first two games of the new season and scored just one!
Three points are a must for the Clarets, who are currently second from bottom with just one point.
Plymouth themselves have also been struggling and they too have just one point and find themselves just one place above us in 22nd spot on the same number of points but with a better goal difference.
This could be one of those confidence builders for both teams, lose this for either team and the psychology could begin to affect the losing team and kick-start the season for the winners. Let`s hope it`s the Clarets that can plough on!
Predicted Team Sheet
With no news of any injuries, Coyle would appear to have a full squad to choose from with the exception of course of Bes Berisha who is currently on loan to Rosenborg.
It is not clear whether this means Van der Schaaf is now back in contention after struggling with injury.
We may as well stay with the same eleven that started against Palace and Oldham in my opinion and see whether the 4-1-4-1 formations with Paterson upfront and Alexander just in front of the back four will pay dividends yet again.
We then seem to have options to change things if need be so 4-4-2 or even 4-4-1-1 could be tried at some stage of the game.
Back to five substitutes though for this game, after the luxury of seven in the Carling Cup rounds and one person who could feature is Russell Anderson, our new season-long loan from Sunderland.
He was named as one of the seven substitutes against Oldham although did not come on to play having travelled down to the club and finalised terms earlier the same day.
Let`s face it the back four performed well on Tuesday night albeit against lower league opposition and Alexander started well in his holding role before performing equally well in the back four after Duff was substituted.
Anderson at the moment could be surplus to requirements and I expect Coyle to keep the faith with the back four in the starting line up and name Anderson on the bench. In a bizarre twist of fate though, Anderson in his first potential league encounter for the Clarets could be called upon to face his former colleagues, having been previously loaned to Argyle last season.
This could well be the sixteen however:
Jensen, Duff, Carlisle, Caldwell, Kalvenes, Alexander, Elliott, McDonald, McCann, Eagles, Paterson
Subs: Penny, Anderson, Gudjonsson (or Mahon), Blake, Akinbiyi
Burnley Team News:
No news of any further injuries and it remains to be seen if Van der Schaff is available for selection.
Coyle will probably name new boy, Anderson on the bench but he could well feature at some point of the game
Player to watch: Graham Alexander
The butt of lots of criticism recently but credit where credit is due, he has played much better in the last few games and his role as the holding midfielder in front of the back four seems to be suiting him.
Plymouth Argyle Team News:
Left back, Gary Sawyer looks fully fit after recovering from an hamstring injury and could be in contention for a place after being given a 45 minute run out in the reserves
Left-back Sawyer had a 45-minute run-out for the reserves, and if he suffers no reaction to his injury could come into contention.
Player to watch: Jermaine Easter
Striker, Jermaine Easter once linked to a move to Turf Moor wants a move away from the club, so it will be interesting to see if he features in the sixteen after coming on from the bench in their last League game against Swansea.
Last Time We Met
Plymouth Argyle manager Paul Sturrock told BBC Radio Devon:
‘We haven’t won in our last nine appearances there.(Turf Moor)
‘We haven’t scored in our last four there so it doesn’t look good.
Oh dear, does that sound ominous to you?
Last season of course,we defeated Plymouth 1-0 at Turf Moor back in January this year thanks to a goal by Blake. The season before though, Plymouth were the fall guys as we brought a 19 winless run to an end under Steve Cotterill clobbering them 4-0 in April 2007.
Ref Watch:
Michael Oliver (Newcastle) and son of Clive!
Match Prediction:
2-0 Clarets
Next Match:
A break now for a couple of weeks with the next match away to Nottingham Forest on September 13th @ 3pm KO
