Match Preview – Burnley v Brighton

Burnley – the team
Burnley are the club that every team looking to establish themselves in the Premier League really need to try and emulate these days. They came up, went down, stayed up and are now pushing for Europa League football. Staying loyal to Stone Cold Steve Austin look-a-like Sean Dyche despite their relegation from the top flight in 2015 has proven to be a decision that has been richly vindicated and one that anybody thinking that Chris Hughton should leave his job anytime soon should pay close attention to. Even more impressive has been the Clarets recruitment policy. They’ve taken a chance on plenty of good quality English players and turned them into players who have made the England squad or sold them on for big money – Kieran Tripper, Danny Ings, Andre Gray, Michael Keane, Tom Heaton, Nick Pope, Ben Mee, Jack Cork and James Tarkowski to name but a few.

Burnley – the place
Burnley won an award in 2013 for being the “Most Enterprising Area in the UK” which was either someones idea of a joke or the awards panel had been as enamoured by the place for its combination of terrible £2.50 pints of lager and doner kebab pizzas as we were on our last visit there. The town had held a market for over 700 years and during the Industrial Revolution became one of Lancashire’s most prominent mill towns being one of the world’s biggest producers of cotton cloth at its peak. Most of the population seem to still think it is the 1800s if the BNP’s electoral success there is anything to go by and we can probably look forward to plenty of homophobic abuse from the locals, as is normally the case in these absolute dives that are dotted around Lancashire.

Burnley – the people
For a club that until Dyche’s arrival had been nothing more than a solid second tier outfit for around 20 years, Burnley have an impressive haul of celebrity fans. Prince Charles tops the bill, followed closely by former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell. England’s record wicket taker James Anderson comes next followed by the kid who plays Chesney in Coronation Street. He was of course in one of the more ridiculous story lines of recent times when a strange looking fella like him ended up dating the absolutely stunning Georgia May Foote. Thus would simply not happen in real life. Finally, there is some weatherman who popped up on Google as a celebrity fans but who’s name I’ve already forgotten (it wasn’t Michael Fish).

A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Burnley away
Martin Hinshelwood’s first game in charge saw a stunning 3-1 win for newly promoted Brighton at Turf Moor on the opening day of the 2002-03 season. That was about as good as it got for Hinshelwood as he lost 10 of the next 11 league games to be replaced by Steve Coppell. It was also the day the Albion debuted that absolutely hideous black away kit with a giant white bat painted on the front in emulsion.

A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Burnley away
The Albion were still in with a chance of the play offs on Good Friday 2012 when making the trip to Turf Moor. That made it even more bizarre that Gus Poyet would throw his toys out of the pram and storm off down the tunnel five minutes before the end with the Albion trailing 1-0 but still in the game. Little wonder he could never crack that glass ceiling.

Played for both
Burnley have four ex-Albion players among their ranks which, given our liking for conceding to former wearers of the stripes, makes it inevitable that at least one of Ashley Barnes, Sam Vokes, Chris Wood or Stephen Ward is going to score. Our money is on Barnes for a 92nd minute winner in front of the away end, after which he celebrates wildly to endear himself further to his already sizeable Albion fan club.

Dangermen
Barnes has been in good form in recent weeks so we’d probably have to highlight him as a danger man even if the ex-Seagull factor wasn’t there.

Betting
Our last four meetings with Burnley have all ended in draws, as have eight of the last 13 games between the sides. There is more chance of Ariana Grande finally accepting our marriage proposal than of the Albion winning away from home, so we’re backing a low scoring stalemate.

Prediction
We’ve been pretty poor on the road since the middle of February but play like we did against Spurs and a point isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. 1-1.