Burnley vs. Brighton
Venue: Tour Moor
Kick off: 4PM
Burnley will be looking to break their Premier League record points tally when they host lowly Brighton & Hove Albion this afternoon.
The Clarets need a point to make this their best-ever campaign in the competition, while Brighton is playing for pride alone after securing their top-flight status last week.
Burnley’s 2-0 win over already-relegated Norwich City made it seven games without defeat in the league, a run that only Manchester United can better.
Sean Dyche, an outside contender to win the Manager of the Year award, described the win at Carrow Road as “bizarre” after Norwich had two players sent off before half time.
An acrobatic effort from Chris Wood and an own goal from Ben Godfrey secured a fourth victory in eight matches since the restart as Burnley moved into ninth.
The Clarets can no longer finish in a European spot, but they have something tangible to aim for this weekend as one point is needed to better their 2017-18 points tally.
Indeed, they have already won more Premier League games this season than they have in any of their other campaigns in the competition, picking up maximum points 15 times.
Burnley’s superb run, which has seen them lose only one of their last 15 games going further back, has been built on an impressive defensive record.
In those 15 games they have conceded 11 times, five of those coming in the solitary defeat at the hands of Manchester City, and Nick Pope is level with Ederson on 15 clean sheets in the race to win the Golden Glove.
There is far less for Brighton to play for on the face it, having sealed their place in the Premier League for a fourth season with Monday’s goalless draw against Newcastle United.
Graham Potter was brought in to improve Brighton’s style of play and has achieved that, but supporters will be expecting more next season following another close call this term.
The Seagulls have been far too inconsistent all season – especially post-lockdown, with a return of two wins, three defeats and three losses in eight matches.
Potter will now be keen to end his first season as a Premier League manager on a high by coming away from Turf Moor with victory, something six teams have managed in 2019-20.
However, Brighton have won just one of their last eight away league meetings with Burnley, and have lost all three final-day games since earning promotion to the Premier League.
Burnley possible XI: Pope, Bardsley, Long, Tarkowski, Pieters, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Rodriguez, Wood.
Brighton possible XI: Ryan, Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Bissouma, Stephens, Propper, Mooy, Trossard, Maupay.
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