Appleton, one of the newest managers in the league, will be in charge for just the second time on the road and he'll be hoping to end a long run without an away win that stretches into last season.
“The players aren’t daft, they know we haven’t been good enough away from home,” said Appleton before leaving for Burnley. “You only look back to our last away game at Watford for evidence of that.
“The record of us not winning away is not a nice one to have, but it will get broken, and I hope it’s on Saturday.”
Appleton continued: “It was an important three points for us against Coventry (at home last Saturday) and the lads have got a good feeling about them going into the Burnley game.
"Burnley are in rich form having won their last three games, which shows how quickly things can turn around because they were 2-1 down at Hull and 10 minutes away from losing five on the bounce, only to come back and win 3-2, then win the next two, including at West Ham last Saturday.
“As a former Preston player I know Turf Moor isn’t an easy place to go, but we go there in a good frame of mind. They’ve been playing 4-3-3 away from home and 4-4-2 at home, but I’m sure Eddie Howe will keep his cards close to his chest.
“They tend to get the ball into wide areas early because they’ve got two attacking full-backs who like to get forward as much as they can, and they can become a threat if they put the ball into the box quickly.
“But the league is very open. There aren’t too many clean sheets about and the bottom side can beat the one at the top, as we saw last week with Doncaster winning against Southampton.”
Eddie Howe is ensuring everyone has their feet firmly on the ground despite the three wins. "We can't get carried away," he said.
"This is a massive period for us and a good opportunity for us but we have seen in this league and in our season that we have had false dawns and set-backs, disappointments and inconsistency, so we really want to make the most of this opportunity and try and continue the run we are on.
"We have been working hard all week to make sure we haven't got carried away at all and it's been a normal week's preparation. We are hopeful that will be reflected in the performance.
"We managed to stay strong in the dark times and we have come through it but we could go back there if we are unprofessional and if we don't prepare right. We have got to stay focused and we want to make it six, seven games. That's a proper run and a sign we are a good side, so we have got a long way to go.
"It could still go either way. We are very close to both ends, the top and the bottom due to the nature of the league, so we are not getting carried away and we know this is a massive game for us on Saturday."
He knows that it is at home where we've struggled more to get wins this season with the 4-0 win against Ipswich in the last Turf Moor game only our third home league win of the season.
He added: "Three of the next four games are at home, so we would love to get some good results because our home form needs improving. I was really pleased with our last home performance and hopefully we can back it up with another one, but nothing is given to you in this league and Portsmouth will be a stern test.
"They have a decent squad, players with Premier League experience. Their away record isn't fantastic but I don't take any notice of that. They have got a new manager. They have been hit by off-field problems but sometimes that can galvanise you and make you a stronger squad so it will be a tough test.
"If we drop our standards by even a small percentage we will get punished."