Burnley v Fulham Premier League preview

Burnley’s recent form is making the bookmakers short odds of them going straight back down look sensible as back-to-back defeats leave them 4 points above safety.

Burnley

Outplayed and beat at Portsmouth last weekend has extended Burnley’s winless run to 4 games now, but they can be forgiven with 3 of those being on the road. Turf Moor has been their saviour so far this season, and they cannot afford not to win this one with the pressure they have put themselves under at home. Fulham like to play defensive on the road which means Burnley will need to be patient and constructive trying to break them down this weekend, while also not being caught out by the likes of Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey on the counter attack. They outplayed Aston Villa on their last match here, but only had 1 goal to show for it and were eventual undone by a late Emile Heskey equaliser. Fulham are likely to frustrate Burnley in this game, while Burnley may be starting to get a little concerned by their recent form and some of the media expecting a poor run of form to suck them into a relegation battle. This could be just that. With some big matches coming up against bottom half sides before the year is over, Burnley will be looking to win this to gain momentum ahead of their match at Wolves next weekend.

Form
WDDLL

Injuries/Suspensions
Jay Rodriguez
Matthew Patterson
Chris McCann

Fulham

Bobby Zamora let some frustration out as he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory over Sunderland on Sunday that sent Fulham into 8th the table. 7 points from their 3 straight home games, they would like to add to that in their only away game before 2 more games either side of Christmas day. Their only away win of this campaign came at Portsmouth on the opening day, and have since picked up just 3 points in their last 6 away games. Points are on offer here against a Burnley side out of form and starting to drift towards the relegation zone. Fulham can help them out with a poor performance here before they go to Switzerland on Thursday for a must-win match at Basle if they want to progress from the group stages of the inaugural Europa League. It’s hard to predict how they might perform with that likely to be on their mind with the lack of experience in Europe that most of their players have. Without that distraction Fulham are playing well, although trying to hold Burnley out for 90 minutes is asking for a lot.

Form
DLWDW

Injuries/Suspensions
Simon Davies
Dickson Etuhu
Diomansy Kamara
Andy Johnson

With Burnley’s poor form and Fulham’s lack of firepower matched with the distraction of Thursday’s crunch Europa League tie, I can see this being a stalemate and a strong candidate for the last match on the Premier League highlights show.

Best bet: Draw 12/5