Opposition View: Burnley
When Brighton and Hove Albion went to Burnley back in December, Chris Hughton’s side were 12 points clear of the struggling Clarets.
What’s happened in the intervening two months is remarkable. Brighton have won just once while Burnley are unbeaten in their last seven, pulling themselves away from the relegation zone and closing the gap to the Albion to just three points in the process.
What’s changed? Have the Clarets rediscovered the formula that saw them finish seventh last season? And how high can they climb over the final third of the campaign?
To find out, we spoke to Tony Scholes from Up the Clarets for the view from Turf Moor.
When the Albion came up to Turf Moor in December, Burnley looked in real relegation trouble but four wins and three draws from your last seven games has been a welcome return to last season’s form. What has sparked the turnaround?
I wouldn’t say we are out of any relegation danger, Cardiff’s win last week has taken them to within two points of us, but things have improved significantly. We’d played really well in the game before the Brighton home game despite losing 3-1 against Liverpool and then in the game after we lost 1-0 at Spurs to a stoppage time goal when, again, we’d deserved something from the game. We were being forced into making too many changes in the early part of the season, juggling the Premier League with the Europa League, and that continued for far too long. We’ve gone back to being who we are and sticking to a settled team, and it is looking a lot better.
Given your recent improvement, what do you think is a realistic aim for the rest of the season now?
The realistic aim remains staying in this league, but I’m sure we are looking at that group just above us, which includes Brighton, and the target will be to try and get at the head of that group if possible. From my point of view, the sooner we get to what’s considered a safe number of points, the better.
Your only arrival in January was Peter Crouch with ex-Albion striker Sam Vokes going the other way to Stoke. Where you happy with the Clarets transfer window business?
We didn’t really do any business other than that deadline day signing of Crouch. He made a good start, he helped win us a penalty, our first in 68 games, in a game when we had the most blatant penalty appeal turned down. I don’t think you can be happy with a window when your only signing is a 38-year-old but we’ve got Stephen Ward, Steven Defour, Jόhann Berg Guðmundsson and Robbie Brady all coming back to fitness. Two of those players have hardly featured in over a year. If we can keep everyone fit, we are going to be a lot stronger.
You’ve mentioned Stephen Ward returning from a long-term injure7, how’s he getting on? And while we are on the subject of ex-Brighton players, last time we spoke you said the jury was still out on Chris Wood. Is that still the case?
I’m a big fan of Ward and that’s probably why I’ve been over critical of Charlie Taylor who has stepped in for him. Having said that, Taylor has been outstanding in our last two games with Ward back on the bench. Now we’ve got competition for the left-back position. Wood always seems to be a scapegoat. The fans love Ashley Barnes, with very good reason, and they did Sam Vokes. Wood hasn’t, overall, been as effective this season as he was last season but he’s coming back into some form recently.
What did you make of the last game between Brighton and Burnley?
Without being a classic, and it was far from that, we were by far the better side on the day and deserved the 1-0 win. We were due a win against Brighton; it was the first since the 2011-12 season.
If you had to give Chris Hughton some advice on how to beat Burnley, what would it be?
Chris Hughton has done a good job at Brighton, he won’t need my advice but I do think you will need to be very strong against our front two.
Who do you think is going to win the title this year and who is going to be relegated?
I’m answering just as Manchester City have gone back to the top of the league although they have played a game more. Had Liverpool won the clash between the two recently at the Etihad they would have gone ten points clear and that would have taken some catching. They didn’t and I do think City are by far the better of the two teams. At times they look as though they are on another planet with the quality of their football. As for the relegation positions. I think only a fool wouldn’t include Huddersfield right now. Nothing is ever certain but I just can’t see them getting out of it. Likewise Fulham, I think it will be a major struggle for them. Will Cardiff be the third? We all know what’s happened there recently and much will depend, I think, on how they deal with it all. Prior to that, I had them down as a bottom three team so I’ll stick with that.
Finally, a prediction please?
It would be nice to get another win at the Amex so I’ll go with 1-0. I’ve seen us win three times at Brighton, all at different grounds, and all 1-0. It would be good to add another clean sheet too.
Thanks to Tony for answering our questions ahead of Burnley’s trip to the Amex – but hopefully he won’t be adding another 1-0 win to his collection! You can have a look at his take on all things Burnley over on Up the Clarets
