Saturday, February 28, 2015

Burnley vs. Swansea City Preview

Two teams who ruffled Premier League feathers last weekend meet at Turf Moor on Saturday as Burnley entertain Swansea City.

Both sides stunned the Premier League's elite as Swansea beat Manchester United and the Clarets rallied to draw 1-1 at the home of leaders Chelsea.

The Swans fell behind at the Liberty Stadium before goals from Ki Sung-yueng and Bafetimbi Gomis secured them their first ever league double over United.

They remained ninth in the table despite the result and are probably too far behind to resurrect their challenge on the European places.

However, victory against a United side who had previously only lost once in 19 games is evidence that Garry Monk's men are not going to allow their season to peter out.

Burnley's brave display at Stamford Bridge has been overshadowed by the incident involving Ashley Barnes and Nemanja Matic which resulted in the Serbian being sent off.

Matic reacted furiously to a tackle from Barnes, shoving his opponent to the ground, but much of the post-match critique was aimed at the Clarets striker for his original challenge, described as 'career-threatening' by Jose Mourinho.

Sean Dyche has defended Barnes with a detailed explanation of his version of events and insisted that he does not need taking out of the spotlight ahead of the reverse fixture of Swansea's 1-0 victory in August.



Replacing him with Wales international Sam Vokes, who has been waiting patiently to reform his prolific strike partnership with Danny Ings since returning from a long-term injury, is an option worth consideration.

Consistent team selection is one of the reasons why the relegation favourites have avoided falling adrift and therefore Dyche could again name an unchanged side to the one which earned a valuable point against the Blues.

Only goal difference separates them from safety, and the likes of Stephen Ward and Matt Taylor are returning to fitness to help their cause. Dean Marney is out for the rest of the season, though, and so Michael Kightly will start.

Monk too may intend to stick with the same starting XI, with Gomis leading the line and Gylfi Sigurdsson accommodated in a wide role ahead of Nathan Dyer and Jefferson Montero, both of whom are useful substitutes.

January signings Kyle Naughton and Jack Cork have settled in immediately at Swansea and have already established themselves in a team which lists central defender Kyle Bartley as its only injury absentee.

Burnley have only won one of their last 10 league games, but will climb out of the bottom three with victory.

Burnley:

Form in Premier League: WLLDLD
Form in all competitions: LLLDLD

Possible starting lineup: Heaton; Trippier, Keane, Shackell, Mee; Boyd, Arfield, Jones, Kightly; Barnes, Ings

Swansea:

Form in Premier League: DLWDLW
Form in all competitions: LLWDLW

Possible starting lineup: Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Cork, Ki; Routledge, Shevley; Sigurdsson; Gomis

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