Burnley vs. Brighton
Venue: Turf Moor
Kick off: 4PM
Burnley will be hoping to avoid a third defeat on the trot in the Premier League when they welcome a resurgent Brighton & Hove Albion to Turf Moor this afternoon.
The hosts fell to a 2-0 defeat to title-chasing Manchester City in midweek, whereas Brighton managed to beat reigning champions Liverpool 1-0 on Merseyside.
Burnley have had to endure 180 gruelling minutes of football against Chelsea and Man City over the past week, so it did not come as much of a surprise to see Sean Dyche’s men come away with zero points from those fixtures.
City cruised to victory at Turf Moor thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling on Wednesday evening – a result which left Burnley down in 17th after 21 matches, although they still have a comfortable eight-point cushion over 18th-placed Fulham in the battle to avoid the drop.
The Clarets recorded a resounding victory over the Cottagers in the FA Cup either side of impressive victories over Liverpool and Aston Villa in the top flight, so the signs are certainly encouraging, but plenty of teams around them are starting to return to winning ways as well.
With first-choice strikers Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood facing a race to be fit in time for this game, the onus will be on Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra to add to the mere 13 goals – the lowest out of any team in the top flight – that Burnley have already notched up this season.
However, eight of those 13 goals have come at Turf Moor, and the hosts have managed to come up trumps in four of their last seven games on familiar territory, although they are now facing a Brighton outfit who have just produced one of the performances of the season at Anfield.
Brighton and Burnley both share a common goal of Premier League survival, but the two clubs can bond over their respective triumphs at the home of the champions in an increasingly unpredictable campaign.
Liverpool had their chances, but Brighton’s formidable rearguard demonstrated exactly why they have now kept four clean sheets on the bounce as they prevented the goal-shy Reds from scoring on their own turf for the third game in a row.
A second-half winner claimed by Steven Alzate was all that separated the two sides on the night as Brighton became the second top-flight team – after Burnley – to overcome Liverpool on their own turf in the 2020-21 Premier League season.
That historic victory – Brighton’s first at Anfield for nearly 39 years – means that Graham Potter’s men have now taken 10 points from the last 12 on offer in the top flight, and the Seagulls are the only side outside of the top five who have won at least three of their last four matches.
The visitors would temporarily open up a 13-point gap between themselves and the drop zone should they take the spoils at Turf Moor, but Burnley have only lost once to their opponents in the last 10 meetings between the two clubs.
Burnley possible XI: Pope, Lowton, Mee, Tarkowski, Pieters, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Vydra, Rodriguez.
Brighton XI: Sanchez, White, Webster, Dunk, Veltman, Bissouma, Gross, Alzate, Burn, Trossard, Maupay.