Burnley are looking down from upon high from the top of the Championship table hoping to stay there after the game against Reading at Turf Moor this Saturday. The fifth-placed Royals will be hoping to spoil the party.
The Pre-amble:
The Clarets quite simply at the moment are unstoppable. This season they have lost just one game in all competitions and after ten league games currently sit proudly at the top of the Championship table with 23 points,. They are also in the last sixteen of the Capital One Cup. In a remarkable run they are unbeaten since the 24th August when they lost at Brighton. Since that time, they have won 5 of the six league games dropping points only against annoyingly Blackburn (draw) and along the way have also knocked-out Preston and Forest in the COCUP competition. It is still early days and there are certainly challenges ahead but nobody could have wished for a better start and I doubt any Clarets fan would have truly expected us to be in this position with a fair number worried that a relegation scrap might have been more on the cards. Sean Dyche has worked wonders with a squad everybody knows lacks depth in certain areas. All his players have belief and they are truly playing as a team with high skill and motivation. Burnley lead the table ahead of QPR and Leicester on goal difference and have also played a game more than QPR who did not have a midweek game this week. The Clarets must now try and stay there and face one of the toughest challenges so far this season with fifth placed Reading the visitors to Turf Moor this Saturday.
The Royals are just four points behind the Clarets and Nigel Adkins`s men will be hoping to narrow the gap on Saturday and keep their own promotion dreams alive. They too have only lost one game in the league this season although they did also suffer a 6-0 tonking at League One, Peterborough in their Capital One Cup second round tie. In total they have won five and drawn four of their 10 league games so far with their only defeat coming at Bloomfield Road where they lost 1-0 to Blackpool back in August. Reading`s away form will also be a worry for the Clarets too with two wins, two draws and only the Blackpool defeat spoiling the statistics. Let`s hope come the final whistle on Saturday that the usurpers will still be sitting on the throne with the Royals not having half a bum cheek on it!
Burnley Team News:
Ross Wallace remains sidelined with a knee injury following surgery to fix a ‘wear and tear` problem. It is thought he could be back in contention around Christmas. Sean Dyche may have a selection headache regarding his centre midfield pairing. Dean Marney returns after sitting out an automatic one-match suspension in midweek against Doncaster Rovers for picking up a fifth yellow card in the previous Charlton game. David Edgar played on Tuesday night at the Keepmoat in his place and was very impressive being a contender for man of the match. So who will Dyche select to partner Jones? Watch this space!
Player to watch: Jason Shackell
Shackell`s leadership skills could be tested to the full on Saturday against such strong opposition. The Royals will certainly be a different kettle of fish to teams we have recently faced; last season`s Premier League outfit being the toughest we have played against in the league for some time. Shackell could be buoyed up even more if he manages to pick up the Sky Bet Championship player of the month award for September on Friday.
Reading Team News:
Midfielder Jem Karacan will be out for six months with a knee injury after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament. Karacan suffered the injury against Leeds earlier in September and now faces a long recuperation from surgery. Two other midfielders, Royston Drenthe and Danny Williams both missed the Barnsley game on Saturday after picking up foot injuries and could still be sidelined. Striker, Nick Blackman also missed that game with a swollen knee but is thought to be close to a return. Meanwhile, striker Jason Roberts continues to recover from his long-term hip injury. The 35 year old striker last played in December 2012 and had surgery on a career-threatening hip injury in March. Roberts now hopes to make his comeback before the end of the year.
Player to watch: Adam le Fondre
The 26 year old striker is currently the Royals leading goal scorer with four goals in the Championship so far this season. Le Fondre signed a three-year contract with Reading in August 2011 for a fee believed to be around £350,000 joining them from Rotherham United. Since that time the former Stockport County and Rochdale forward has notched up 28 goals in 72 appearances for Reading. Burnley will need to keep him quiet!
Team & Tactics:
Dean Marney is back in contention after his one match suspension for a fifth yellow. I expect he will immediately go back into the starting eleven despite the fact that his stand-in, David Edgar played so well in the game away to Doncaster in midweek. Both Edgar and Stock though may get a chance soon with David Jones just needing one more yellow card before he too picks up an automatic one match suspension for a fifth yellow. Dyche does not appear to have any fresh injury concerns following Tuesday night`s game so we can now expect the familiar 4-4-2 line-up of:
Heaton, Trippier, Shackell, Duff, Mee, Kightly, Marney, Jones), Arfield, Ings, Vokes
Subs: Cisak, Lafferty, Long, Edgar, Stock, Stanislas, Treacy
Ref Watch:
Premier League referee Mike Jones gets this one. The Chester-based official was last in charge of a game involving the Clarets at Leicester back in April 2012. That game was a 0-0 stalemate with Dean Marney being the only player to be cautioned. This referee thankfully is pretty cautious himself when it comes to handing out red cards. Although he has shown red already in one of his six games so far this season, last season the rate was only one-in-ten with just three players sent off in 31 games. The yellow card count was 85 last season and so far 19 this season.
Match Prediction:
It is no secret that most of the points this season have come against teams in the bottom half of the table. We have played just three teams that currently sit in the Top 12 and picked up just four points i.e. Brighton (lost), Blackburn (drew) and Leeds (won) with 19 of our 23 points amassed against teams in the Bottom 12. We did also beat a Top 6 club, Nottingham Forest though in the Capital One Cup so the signs are encouraging. We now have a truer test with Reading the visitors to Turf Moor. It won`t be easy against the fifth placed club and many pundits may well think this game has ‘draw` written all over it. I have a feeling though that the way we are plying could see the Clarets remain at the top of the table with another three points so I will predict 2-1 Burnley.
Next Match:
It`s international break time again. After a hectic period since the last international break at the end of August of six games and four weeks playing Saturday/midweek each week, we now have a chance to recuperate and recharge our batteries. We return in two weeks time and travel to Portman Road to play Ipswich Town on Saturday 19th October (Kick-Off: 3pm)
