Clarets set to face Wise and Leeds
Burnley travel to Elland Road today for our penultimate away game of the season, and it is a game that is of great importance to our hosts Leeds United as they continue their battle against relegation to League One.
It's only just under two weeks ago that I thought both of us would be involved in that particular fight, and I also wondered whether we would go there with Leeds having been the last side we had beaten. Although not mathematically safe yet we are close enough to know that if results go our way then by tonight we will be.
For Leeds, it is an amazing turn round from a year ago when they were within ninety minutes of reaching the play offs. They'd seen Preston off in the semi-final despite the 'job done' air bunch from Billy Davies, only to fail in the Millennium Stadium final against Watford.
They have never threatened to repeat that this season and by mid September they had hit bottom spot for the first time. A little flurry moved them up a few places but on 16th December they found themselves next to bottom and only in the last week have they climbed above that position.
It all brought an end to Kevin Blackwell's time at the club, but he's not worried because he's found another way to get relegated now by joining Luton, and finally in his place came that obnoxious little man Dennis Wise. Now I'm not sure I'd wish him on any club, and I'm equally unsure whether I'd want a club to be lumbered with Ken Bates, but Leeds have hit the jackpot and got both of them.
Since out meeting in November, in what was our last win for some time, Wise has added to his squad. He brought in four new players in January and another seven players have come in on loan during 2007, they appear to be competing with Stoke City and Ocean Finance for the number of loans in a season.
The four permanent signings included two players who had previously signed on loan, Barnet's Tresor Kandol and Matt Heath from Coventry. The other two were full back Robbie Elliott who had been released by RK Sunderland and striker Tore Andre Flo who had been playing back home in Norway for Valerenga.
Then came the loan players, and here's the list of the latest of them. Miguel Armando Sa (Espanyol), Alan Thompson (Celtic), Casper Ankergren (Brondby), Jemal Johnson (Wolves), Radostin Kishishev (Charlton), Lubomir Michalik (Bolton) and former England full back Michael Gray (Blackburn).
They have had so many loan players that they lost count and fielded too many in their squad when they played at Burnley, having lost the game they got away with a fine. Recently it looked as though they had done it again, but it wasn't the case, players coming in from clubs outside of England are not considered loans. Yet another loophole.
Results looked to be picking up and a recent run of four games without defeat, including victories in each of their last two home games against Preston and Plymouth, helped them out of the relegation places. They'd scored late goals to win both those games as well as grabbing a late equaliser at Southend.
It all turned round on them last Monday at Colchester as they looked to heading for another win before conceding two goals in the last eight minutes of the game. That result and Barnsley's 1-0 home win against Birmingham saw them back in that bottom three.
Team News
Tore Andre Flo has been out since January, he played just the one league game before suffering the injury, and also ruled out is Frazer Richardson. To add to that skipper Jonathan Douglas received his fifteenth yellow card at Colchester and that's ruled him out for three games and having decided to give referee Alan Wiley a mouthful at the end of the game got himself a red card to add another two games to his ban. He won't play now until the second game of next season.
They are not likely to make too many changes from the side that lost at Colchester although as well as replacing Douglas, and Robbie Blake could be the surprise inclusion, they are also expected to bring Richard Cresswell back at the expense of Tresor Kandol in attack.
Leeds could line up: Casper Ankergren, Rui Marques, Matt Heath, Lubomir Michalik, Michael Gray, Robbie Blake, Radostin Kishishev, Alan Thomson, Eddie Lewis, David Healy, Richard Cresswell. Subs from: Graham Stack, Hayden Foxe, Robbie Elliott, Tresor Kandol, Ian Moore, Jemal Johnson.
There have been no reported injuries following the 2-0 win over Cardiff on Easter Monday. Eric Djemba-Djemba had been doubtful but came through a fitness test and played the full ninety minutes without any apparent problem.
That leads to Steve Cotterill almost certainly naming the same side again for the fourth successive game which is: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor, Steve Jones, Andy Gray, Paul McVeigh. Subs from: Danny Coyne, Graham Coughlan, Garreth O'Connor, Chris McCann, John Spicer, Kyle Lafferty, Ade Akinbiyi.
Last Meeting
We could have had no real complaints over our performance at Elland Road last season yet came out of the game with nothing from a 2-0 defeat. In the first half Leeds offered nothing as the Clarets dominated, but a combination of missed chances, bad luck, and good goalkeeping meant the half time scored was still 0-0 when we really should have had the game won.
We paid the price and conceded a penalty which David Healy converted and then Robbie Blake punished us with a free kick from a rather dubiously awarded free kick. Even so we were still the better side in the second half and it was just one of those games that brought a run of four wins to an end.
Today we go in search of a run of four wins again for the first time since.
The teams were;
Leeds: Neil Sullivan, Gary Kelly (Jonathan Douglas 89), Paul Butler, Matthew Kilgallon, Dan Harding, Liam Miller, Shaun Derry, Eddie Lewis, David Healy (Frazer Richardson 79), Rob Hulse, Robbie Blake (Danny Pugh 90). Subs not used: Ian Bennett, Sean Gregan.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff (Wade Elliott 79), Keith Lowe, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, John Spicer (Danny Karbassiyoon 79), Micah Hyde, James O'Connor, Nathan Dyer, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Garreth O'Connor, Gifton Noel-Williams.
clarets-mad.co.uk
