It is all woe woe and thrice woe at the moment. No Clarets win , no goals for ages and a mounting injury list. Leicester this Saturday, can we get off the bottom of the table?
The Pre-amble:
Burnley seem to be in a bit of a pickle at the moment! They are in bottom place in the Premier League and Clarets fans have yet to celebrate a win this season. It`s not even been possible to celebrate a goal since the opening day of the season either and things are certainly now getting a little frustrating to say the least.
Our first five games in the top flight although losing two and only picking up three points from three consecutive 0-0 draws were to be honest in terms of performance encouraging but that was shattered last Sunday at the Hawthorns! Not only did we put in a show that was probably the worst for many a season but we also got stuffed 4-0 against a West Brom side that are by no means any great shakes.
The question is can the team put this debacle behind them and come back fighting in the King Power Stadium against Leicester this Saturday? It certainly has not been helped by our mounting injury list, especially in midfield now but also up front. The latest this week was Nathaniel Chalobah who come on from the bench against the Baggies in the second-half to make his debut but then injured his windpipe in a midweek U21 Premier League Cup match! Our problem is scoring goals but with both Ings and Vokes out and the Juke, Sordell and Barnes finding it is difficult to score it is difficult see where goals are going to come from, especially if the engine room has also been scuppered! Matt Taylor, Dean Marney, David Jones and now Nathaniel Chalobah all look set to miss the Foxes game (see Burnley Team News below) so god only knows how we will line up!
Fellow automatic promotion club, Leicester have certainly had a better start than the Clarets in the top flight this season. The Foxes though did at least lose 2-0 in their last game away to Palace last Saturday and that might dwell on the back of their minds. Nevertheless they are currently in a very respectable twelfth spot with eight points from their six games and of course their last home game was that fight back from 2-0 down at home to Manchester United; a game they finished up winning 5-3!
Leicester City Team News:
Leicester in contrast to the Clarets have the luxury of virtually a full squad to choose from. Foxes manager Nigel Pearson has reported that he has no fresh fitness concerns ahead of the fixture. Both Ritchie De Laet and Esteban Cambiasso are fit despite suffering minor injuries last weekend.
Player to watch: David Nugent
Let`s keep it simple! Every time he plays against us, he scores! Please not again! He has though only scored once so far this season but why then does that sound more worrying than comforting??
Burnley Team News:
The Clarets have a number of injury concerns.
Burnley’s injury problems have mounted in midfield this week, with Nathaniel Chalobah joining Matthew Taylor (Achilles), David Jones (thigh) and Dean Marney (hamstring) on the sidelines. Chalobah bruised his windpipe. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital after suffering damage to his windpipe in a challenge with Will Aimson in a freak incident in the U21s Premier League Cup defeat to Hull on Tuesday night. Tests have given Chalobah the all-clear, but Burnley were advised to rest him this weekend. That effectively means with the other injuries that we have no recognised central midfielder available. Forwards Danny Ings (hamstring) and Sam Vokes (knee) also remain unavailable because of injury giving Sean Dyche quite a few selection headaches in midfield and upfront.
Player to watch: Kieran Trippier
I just don`t know what has happened to Trips this season! His charges down the flank and his assists appear to have generally dried up and in defence he was absolutely woeful against the Baggies last Sunday! He is our key player and if he is not firing on all cylinders, we are bound to struggle! It could be one of the main reasons why we are finding it difficult to score so far this season.
Team & Tactics:
Well it`s pretty clear our main problem is going to be to try and fill the central midfield places with so many out injured! It is almost certain Scott Arfield will be taking up one of the midfield roles in the centre and it could be that once again we line up 4-1-4-1 with Steven Reid as the holding midfielder. It looks like the wingers predominantly forming the rest of the four in midfield so Wallace, Kightly and Boyd all look set to start again even though it wa s a less than successful strategy by some distance at ‘The Hawthorns`
Right then, let`s go with 4-1-4-1 and this suggested line-up:
Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Reid, Boyd, Wallace, Arfield, Boyd, Kightly, Jutkiewicz
Subs: Gilks, Keane, Lafferty, Ward, Long, Sordell, Barnes
Ref Watch:
Stoke referee Phil Dowd gets this clash and it will be his first game involving the Clarets since 2010 when we were last in the Premier League. That season the Staffordshire official actually featured four times and although we won the first at home to Everton the last three all ended in defeat away to Pompey and at home to Chelsea and Liverpool. In none of the four games did we see any player sent off and in total 12 players picked up yellow cards half of them in the Portsmouth clash at Fratton Park!
This season so far from his five games only 17 players have seen yellow and nobody has been sent off. Last season his stats were 8 sending-offs and 158 yellows from 35 games!
Match Prediction:
It is hard to be confident when the team is still looking for its first win or the season, is firmly rooted to the bottom of the Premier League and has not scored in over nine hours of play. The situation is then made worse by the mounting injury list especially in midfield. Just the sort of situation then where the Clarets provide a shock and pick up three points! 2-1 Burnley
Next Match:
The Clarets will be taking a two week rest with the international break coming up. They will next be in action against West Ham at Turf Moor on Saturday 18th October(Kick-Off: 3pm)
