Match Preview: Brighton v Burnley
If anybody is any doubt about how important Brighton and Hove Albion’s game with Burnley is, then a quick glance at the Premier League table should give an indication.
Slowly, the relegation zone has begun to creep into the Albion’s rear view mirrors. A run of just one win from our past 10 league games coupled with improvements from the likes of Southampton, Newcastle United, Cardiff City and this Saturday’s opponents is something of a cause for concern.
Before we went to Turf Moor in December, the Albion were 12 points clear of the Clarets. Now, victory for Sean Dyche’s side at the Amex would actually take them above us. That would be quite the turnaround – and shows why this is arguably the most important game of the season so far.
Who are Burnley?
Originally formed as a rugby union side, Burnley decided to make the switch to football in 1882 and became founder members of the Football League in 1888. They had already taken up residence at Turf Moor by that point, moving there in 1883 which makes it the second oldest football ground in England in continuous use after Preston North End’s Deepdale. Turf Moor was also the first football stadium to be visited by a member of the Royal Family in 1886, which suggests insanity on the part of whoever that was. The Clarets golden era came in the early 1960s as they won the title in the 1959-60 season and reached the quarter finals of the European Cup and the final of the FA Cup the following year. It was steadily downhill after those heady days and 30 years later, Burnley only avoided relegation to the Conference and the very real prospect of the club going out of business on the last day of the 1986-87 campaign. They’ve risen back through the leagues since then and are currently in their third spell in the Premier League in the last decade.
What are they like now?
The Clarets surprised everyone by finishing in seventh spot last season, bringing Europa League football to Turf Moor in the process. Rather aptly for a town that heavily backed Brexit, their European adventure was short lived which was just as well as they’d almost certainly have struggled with the rigours of playing Thursday-Sunday throughout the campaign, not to mention the prospect of all those foreigners coming over here and taking their jobs drinking their beer. Speaking of beer, last season’s success gave Dyche’s side something of a hangover for this campaign and up until just before Christmas, they were floating around the bottom three. A run of four wins and three draws from their last seven has eased their relegation fears slightly however and they’ll arrive at the Amex as one of the Premier League’s form teams.
Which players should we be worried about?
It’s not a coincidence that Burnley’s impressive run has coincided with Tom Heaton’s return from injury. The England international goalkeeper has been in superlative form in recent weeks and it will take something special to beat him, which doesn’t exactly bode well given how wasteful the Albion have been in front of goal lately. The Clarets also have two former Albion strikers among their number in Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood, with Wood in particular having developed a liking for scoring against Brighton whenever we’ve come across him playing for Bristol City, Millwall, Leicester City or The Leeds United.
What’s the Albion’s record against Burnley like?
Recent matches between Brighton and Burnley have been tighter than Daniel Levy’s wallet. Of the last 20 meetings, 10 have ended in draws while 12 have seen at least one of the antagonists fail to score. Overall, both sides have 10 wins apiece from 32 games but you have to go back seven games to August 2013 to find the last time Brighton triumphed, Andrew Crofts and Leonardo Ulloa on target as Oscar Garcia claimed his first home win as Albion boss.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Burnley at home?
Steve Sidwell giving a 90 seconds even more enjoyable than being locked in a room with Jennifer Lawrence when Burnley visited Withdean in December 2002. Brighton were 2-0 down to the Clarets as the game entered the 90th minute but by the time the clocked ticked onto 92, the ginger haired teenager on loan from Arsenal had scored twice to single handedly rescue a point. An absolutely ridiculous moment of individual intervention.
What’s the worse WeAreBrighton.com memory of Burnley at home?
Going down to 10 men after six minutes against Burnley in 2011 when Romain Vincelot was sent off was bad enough. To then see Barnes join him six minutes later killed any hope of taking something from the game. Then just to make matters worse, one member of the WeAreBrighton.com team drank far too much wine on a rare game wwatched from 1901 and ended up waking up at London Blackfriars Station. Ouch.
Whose played for both sides?
We’ve touched upon Barnes and Wood, one of whom is bound to score. Burnley did have a third ex-Albion striker on their books in Sam Vokes but he moved in January to Stoke City in a deal that saw Peter Crouch go the other way. Stephen Ward moved to Turf Moor rather than turning his successful loan spell into a permanent move to the Amex after the Albion spent six months haggling over an extra £5 a week and Kurt no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Nogan was a popular striker and womaniser with both clubs in the mid 1990s.
Other than football, what is Burnley for?
Burnley was one of the world’s biggest mill towns, producing cotton cloth and being a major centre of engineering. It’s reputation as being a town at the heart of the industrial revolution gave way to a reputation for racism in the early part of this century as the locals had an ill-fated dalliance with the British National Party. Thankfully, those days seem to be over and despite its reputation as a hole, we’ve really enjoyed our last few trips there thanks to the number of interesting pubs and the fact it was the first place we came across the heavenly food substance that is a doner kebab pizza.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Burnley?
Our partners are FansBet are running a special of Brighton to score first and win boosted to 17/4. For that to happen, the game would have to buck the recent trend which is for low-scoring stalemates in the fixture. That makes the 12/5 available on another draw look a very fair price.
Prediction?
Neither side is going to want to loose this won and that might therefore make them less eager to win. It’s got draw written all over it, 1-1.
