Burnley will welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Turf Moor on Friday for an important game at the top end of the Championship table.
The hosts have fallen five points behind the automatic promotion spots despite their long unbeaten streak, while a defeat at the weekend saw their visitors drop to three points outside of the playoff places.
Match preview
© Imago
Burnley head back to Turf Moor on Friday aiming to make a return to winning ways and narrow their gap to the Championship's top two, having failed to gain ground despite enjoying a long unbeaten streak.
Aiming to make an immediate return to the Premier League this term, the Clarets have suffered just two defeats in their 33 Championship outings thus far, with the most recent coming in early November, and they have since gone 20 games unbeaten in England's second tier.
Across those matches, Scott Parker's side have only conceded three goals, including 11 straight clean sheets heading into Friday's match, leaving them on an eye-catching tally of just nine goals allowed in their 33 outings, albeit having only won four of their last 10 attempts while settling for six goalless stalemates.
They bounced back from consecutive draws by picking up back-to-back home wins over Oxford United and Hull City earlier in February, with Bashir Humphreys and Zian Flemming netting early goals in a 2-0 triumph over the latter, before they most recently visited Lancashire rivals Preston North End and again settled for a point having failed to break the deadlock.
With plenty of confidence to take from their record-breaking defence, but having failed to score in 13 of their 33 outings thus far and fallen five points behind second-placed Sheffield United at the weekend, Burnley will be desperate to bounce back with an 18th league win of the campaign on Friday.
© Imago
Their visitors, meanwhile, head across to Lancashire also looking upwards as they aim to narrow their gap to the playoff places.
After 33 games of their first full season under the management of Danny Rohl, Sheffield Wednesday find themselves ninth in the Championship having earned 45 points, winning 12 and drawing 12 of those matches along the way.
The Owls have failed to crack the top six due to an inconsistent run since Christmas, though, having added just three more notches to their wins column in their last 11 attempts alongside four losses, albeit with the two more recent of their three-point hauls coming away from home.
Rohl's men bounced back from a defeat to fellow playoff-chasers West Bromwich Albion with a 1-0 triumph away at Swansea City last Wednesday thanks to Michael Smith's goal, but they were unable to make it back-to-back wins for the first time since mid-December on Saturday, as they hosted Coventry City and succumbed to a 2-1 loss.
A Joel Latibeaudiere own goal drew the Owls level on the hour mark on that game, but Ellis Simms snatched all three points for the visitors in injury time, and now sitting ninth with a three-point gap up to the playoff spots, Sheffield Wednesday will aim to take a major scalp on Friday and strengthen their top-six claim.
Team News
© Imago
Burnley remain without several players due to injuries, as Jordan Beyer, Luca Koleosho, Mike Tresor and Aaron Ramsey will all continue spells in the treatment room.
Key midfielder and captain Josh Brownhill, who leads the squad with nine Championship goals this season, did return from his own layoff to feature off the bench last weekend, though, and he could come back in from the outset on Friday, joining Jaidon Anthony and Lyle Foster in support of front man Zian Flemming, although January arrival Marcus Edwards will also hope to earn a start.
Elsewhere, Josh Laurent and Josh Cullen will continue in midfield, while Connor Roberts, Maxime Esteve, CJ Egan-Riley and Bashir Humphreys are bound to again line up in a back four in front of James Trafford as the Clarets search for a 12th consecutive clean sheet in the league.
Sheffield Wednesday are also contending with a list of enforced absences, as defenders Di'Shon Bernard, Dominic Iorfa and Akin Famewo and winger Anthony Musaba will all continue spells on the sidelines due to injuries.
Talismanic midfielder Barry Bannan was fit to start against Coventry after his foot injury, though, and will again feature from the start with Shea Charles, Svante Ingelsson and Stuart Armstrong also competing for midfield spots.
Ike Ugbo, who is yet to score in the Championship since returning to the Owls permanently in the summer, may drop out, with Josh Windass and Michael Smith both hoping to return to the attack having netted a combined tally of 18 league goals so far this season.
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Humphreys; Cullen, Laurent; Anthony, Brownhill, Edwards; Flemming
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Beadle; Valery, Ihiekwe, Lowe, Johnson; Charles, Armstrong, Bannan; Windass, Smith, Gassama
We say: Burnley 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Given their impressive defensive record, Burnley's games are often decided by whether they can find a decisive goal, and we back the Clarets to do so at Turf Moor while keeping a 12th straight clean sheet and a 25th of the Championship season in their 34th game.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
