Genk and Burnley continue their pre-season preparations with a friendly encounter at the Cegeka Arena on Saturday evening.

While the hosts have failed to win their last two warm-up matches, the visitors are seeking to claim a fifth successive pre-season victory.

Match preview

After coming up short in the Belgian Pro League title race to Royal Antwerp last season, Genk have since made a mixed start to their pre-season campaign after winning, drawing and losing one game each.

After beating fellow Belgian side Tienen 3-0 in their opening pre-season friendly and losing 3-2 to Greek outfit PAOK in the Netherlands, Genk played out a 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal on Wednesday.

Francisco Trincao opened the scoring for Sporting inside the first 10 minutes, but Genk responded well and summer signing Alieu Fadera capitalised on some sloppy passing out from the back from the hosts to slot home a 25th-minute equaliser.

Wouter Vrancken will be keen to see his side return to winning ways and put in a positive performance against Burnley on Saturday before they prepare for their first competitive fixture of the season against Servette in the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie next Tuesday.

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As for Burnley, they have enjoyed a perfect pre-season campaign so far this summer, winning each of their opening four friendlies, albeit against lower-league opposition.

Victories over League One sides Fleetwood Town (3-2), Burton Albion (1-0) and Port Vale (3-1) were followed by a comfortable 3-0 victory against Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the Gawthorpe training ground last Friday.

Scott Twine, Josh Brownhill and Dara Costelloe were all the scoresheet for Vincent Kompany's side, who secured promotion to the Premier League after winning the Championship title last season with 101 points.

Kompany is now preparing for a return to his native Belgium for the first time as a coach since managing Anderlecht between 2019 and 2022. The 37-year-old faced Genk in the Anderlecht dugout on eight occasions but he only came out on the winning side three times – his last encounter with the Blauw-Wit resulted in a 2-0 win in February 2022, though.

After facing Genk this weekend, Burnley's European tour will continue with friendly fixtures in Portugal, Spain and Germany against Benfica, Real Betis and Mainz 05 respectively, before Kompany welcome his former club Manchester City to Turf Moor for the opening Premier League game of the new season on August 11.

Team News

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Fadera is one of four players to sign for Genk so far this summer along with Joris Kayembe, Christopher Bonsu Baah and Hendrik Van Crombrugge; the latter two did not feature against Sporting and it remains to be seen if they will take part on Saturday.

Mike Tresor was also not involved last time out, but the attacking midfielder – who scored eight goals and provided 24 assists last season and has been linked with a move to Burnley – could feature in Vrancken's squad this weekend.

Goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt, who will join RB Leipzig in the summer of 2024, is set to start between the sticks, while Nicolas Castro, Yira Sor and Angelo Preciado will all be pushing to start after beginning on the substitutes' bench against Sporting.

As for Burnley, they completed the signing of England Under-21 goalkeeper James Trafford from Man City on Thursday, a day after announcing the arrival of forward Zeki Amdouni; Kompany has now made six permanent signings so far this summer, including Lawrence Vigouroux, Michael Obafemi, Dara O'Shea and Jordan Beyer, and they could all be in contention to feature on Saturday.

Clarets midfielder Brownhill will be hoping to build on his positive start to pre-season after scoring three goals in his last two friendly outings, with a brace against Port Vale followed by a strike against Sheffield Wednesday.

Striker Wout Weghorst is another who will be looking to get some minutes under his belt after returning to Burnley following loan spells at Besiktas and Manchester United last season.

Genk possible starting lineup:
Vandevoordt, McKenzie, Fadera, Heynen, Hrosovsky, Kayembe, Munoz, Paintsil, El Khannouss, Cuesta, Tolu

Burnley possible starting lineup:
Muric; Roberts, Al-Dakhil, O'Shea, Taylor; Brownhill, Cork, Cullen; Costelloe, Rodriguez, Zaroury

We say: Genk 1-1 Burnley

Burnley have made a bright start to pre-season, but they are set to come up against their toughest opponent yet, on paper, in Genk who are set to field a number of key players with one eye on next week's Champions League qualification tie.

A closely-fought contest could be on the cards in Belgium and we can see the spoils being shared on this occasion.

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