Burnley take on Wolves in a relegation battle royal at Molineux this Saturday. The Clarets still not mathematically safe will want to pick up some points and ensure they go into the last game of the season at home to Ipswich not requiring a win to stay up.
The Pre-amble:
The permutations and possibilities in avoiding relegation are too numerous to mention but a point away to struggling Wolves should be enough to ensure safety for the Clarets with three clubs including the hosts this Saturday currently four points adrift of the Clarets. With Bristol City already demoted, there are now eight clubs effectively hoping to be safe desperately wanting to avoid the last two relegation places this Saturday. Barnsley and Wolves on 51 points currently occupy the other two relegation places with Peterborough on the same number of points just above them on goal difference. Burnley in 16th spot on 55 points also have Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall below them on the same number of points with Huddersfield in 20th spot on 54 points. Only Millwall have a game in hand over the other seven clubs and thanks to them losing at home to Blackburn in midweek, Rovers look effectively safe on 56 points. They now have one point more than the Clarets and in 15th spot are one place above them. So what are our chances in our last away game and penultimate match of the season on a ground that has not been too kind to the Clarets over the years? Well Wolves are desperate to avoid their second successive relegation after coming down from the top flight last season and rumour has it that the natives are restless with reports that there could be demonstrations of anger in and around the ground before kick-off. Wolves boss Dean Saunders is under pressure more so than Sean Dyche and basically they have to win and we have to hope that if they do we don`t concede too many goals and that both Peterborough and Barnsley mess up. Our goal difference (minus 1) is vastly superior to Wolves (minus eleven) and indeed all the clubs below us except Blackpool on minus two are also significantly inferior. The rest vary from minus 9(Peterborough) to minus 22 (Huddersfield). Indeed our goal difference in the end could well be worth an extra point but let`s hope it doesn`t come to that and we can go into the last game of the season at home to Ipswich knowing we are safe and don`t have to pick up points. ‘The Company of Wolves` film was a horror story; let`s hope it doesn`t prove to be one for the Clarets!
Wolverhampton Wanderers Team News:
Wolves` top scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken leg. He was the fourth player to suffer a season ending injury over a torrid fortnight for the struggling Midlands club last month. Bakary Sako (hamstring) and Dave Edwards (broken foot) went off within six minutes of each other before half-time in the 2-1 home win over Bristol City on 16 March. Keeper Carl Ikeme then broke a bone in his hand in a freak incident after punching a tactics board following heated words in the dressing room during the same game. The injury list for Wolves is horrendous. Keeper Wayne Hennessey has missed the entire season after undergoing a second operation to repair cruciate ligament damage in a knee. Injury-ravaged Wolves then lost David Davis with an ankle problem. The midfielder suffered the blow in their recent 2-0 defeat at Bolton and an MRI scan confirmed ligament damage which could also keep him out for the rest of the season.
Player to watch: Kevin Doyle
The Wolves captain appears to be on form and has scored a goal in each of the last two games. The 29 year old Republic of Ireland international striker is currently their third-highest goal scorer this season with 9 goals. Doyle joined newly promoted from Reading in June 2009 signing a four-year contract for a club record fee, reportedly £6.5 million. At the time though, Wolves had been newly promoted to the Premier League.
Burnley Team News:
Ben Mee (hamstring strain) remains doubtful but central defender Michael Duff (calf) returned to training this week and could feature on Saturday.. Duff has missed the past six games after injuring himself in the derby day 1-1 draw away to Blackburn Rovers. Charlie Austin of course is out for the rest of the season following his recent appendix operation.
Player to watch: Danny Ings
Ings has certainly been energetic this season but the end product has been lacking in terms of goals. He always looks a threat though and hopefully he can get on the score sheet this Saturday and ease our relegation fears
Team & Tactics:
In the end it was a good point against league leaders and now confirmed Champions, Cardiff City at Turf Moor last Saturday but it was only achieved by a change of tactics at half-time after a woeful first-half team performance. Do we keep the same team and formation that played so well in the second-half or resort back to having wingers in the starting eleven. Both Wallace and Stanislas started the first half on the wing but were dropped for the start of the second half with Dyche electing to boost the defence with Stock playing just in front of the back-four and Ings and Paterson playing a wider role supporting Vokes up front. This is Wolves though not Cardiff and they certainly do not have one of the best defences in the Championship. I would be tempted to name the same eighteen as Saturday giving us the same options to change tactics should we need to. If we can get the first goal with a more attacking line-up the pressure could really be on the hosts and their fans could well be on their backs. Unless Mee is fit, Lafferty also looks set to continue in the left-back spot So then let`s go for this line-up:
Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Long (or Duff), Lafferty, Wallace, Marney, McCann, Stanislas, Ings Vokes
Subs: Jensen, O`Neill(or Mills), Edgar, Stock, Treacy, Bartley, Paterson.
Ref Watch:
Our last away game of the season sees Surrey referee, Darren Sheldrake in charge. This clash will be his first game involving the Clarets. In his 29 games so far this season, only two players have been sent off whilst another 96 have seen yellow!
Match Prediction:
A point will probably do to settle any relegation jitters and a point we shall get! 1-1
Next Match:
The season comes to a close with our final game of 2012-13 to be played at home to Ipswich on Saturday 4th May. Note all the games that day kick-off early at 12:45pm
