American Express - that'll do nicely

Just a month or so ago we were the form team of the division with a run of results that won Sean Dyche a nomination for January Manager of the Month. Up to the last game of the month we hadn't dropped a point nor had we conceded a goal in what is traditionally a poor month for Burnley.

That last game of January was the controversial 2-1 home defeat against Birmingham and it has signalled a change in form which has now seen us win only two points from four games, and a drop in the table from seventh to twelfth.

The only positive was the clean sheet on Tuesday against Middlesbrough but in truth it would have been difficult not to keep a clean sheet against a team that showed such little adventure and had turned up with the sole intention of getting a 0-0 draw.

Sam Vokes played for Brighton last season on loan

It's not the sort of form we needed going into a tough game at the Amex against a Brighton side who have beaten both of the top two, Hull and Cardiff, in their last three games.

We've slipped well short of the top six now. We sit seven points behind Middlesbrough who occupy the last play off position and realistically you would say it would be very difficult for us to make it now.

In the last twelve years, since we won promotion, it has, on all but two occasions, required a minimum of 73 points to win a top six finish. That's a total that would see us having to win another 29 points in the last 14 games, something we've haven't achieved in any of those seasons.

Watford, in 2008, and Blackpool, two years later, did reach the play offs with 70 points but even that would require us getting 26 points, exactly the number we won in the last 14 games in our promotion season.

We take on a Brighton side who are five points ahead of us so it simply is a game we have to go and win if we are to start getting closer. They are the one side outside the top six who are not catchable with one win.

Sam Vokes came on as a substitute in this game last season as he did in our home game against them this season. In the home game last April, during a loan at Brighton, he started the game against us.

This week he recalled that loan at the Amex. "It was good for me to get out on loan and play some games down at Brighton," he said. "It was a different type of football to what I've been used to. They're a good team and it's a good place to play, so I'll be taking my knowledge into the game.

"It's a great stadium and a good atmosphere, so hopefully we can go and get the same result as last year. I've got a bit of confidence from those goals last week (at Stoke in the behind closed doors game) so hopefully I can kick on.

"We've got a lot of games coming up and Saturday will be another tough one. There are a lot of teams around the play offs and we're playing a lot of them coming up. It's been tight up there all season and we're still in with a huge chance."

Vokes has been back on the subs bench since the return of Charlie Austin and it is likely he'll have to settle for that tomorrow when Burnley will again be without Ross Wallace who was so badly missed in midweek.

Danny Ings is the one player who is back in contention after injury and I'd expect him to start tomorrow, potentially in place of Martin Paterson.

We could line up: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Danny Lafferty, Brian Stock, Junior Stanislas, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Danny Ings, Charlie Austin. Subs from: Brian Jensen, Luke O'Neill, David Edgar, Joseph Mills, Marvin Bartley, Dane Richards, Keith Treacy, Sam Vokes, Martin Paterson.

Brighton will be looking to complete the double over us in this game, exactly what we did to them last season. They won 3-1 at the Turf earlier in the season, our first home defeat of 2012/13, and it is fair to say they fully deserved the points in what was one of the best performances against us so far.

That win lifted them to fourth in the fledgling table and so well have they done that they've only twice fallen below eighth since and then only as low as tenth which was their position as we went into 2013.

They were beaten in that last December game at home to Watford. They haven't lost at home since and have lost only one league game in 2013, that coming at Sheffield Wednesday.

Although they have only been beaten three times at home all season, the other two were against Birmingham and Middlesbrough, they have won less home games than any team in the top half of the league.

The player to watch is without doubt Craig Mackail-Smith. He looked an outstanding player when he scored twice in that 3-1 win against us and he's their leading goalscorer this season with six goals.

He missed Tuesday's win at Cardiff with a knee injury as did Gordon Greer, our goalscorer in the home game against them, but both are expected to be fit as is Dean Hammond who was forced off during the game.

They also welcome back Ashley Barnes who has just completed a three match suspension but will be without their midfield holding player Liam Bridcutt who has landed himself a suspension after picking up his tenth yellow card of the season.

For tomorrow's game they are expected to select from: 29. Tomasz Kuszczak, 2. Bruno Saltor, 20. Matthew Upson, 6. Adam El-Abd, 28. Wayne Bridge, 4. Dean Hammond, 21. David Lopez, 11. Andrea Orlandi, 30. Will Buckley, 19. Leonardo Ulloa, 16. Casper Ankergren, 15. Rodriguez Vicente, 33. George Barker, 25. Kazenga Lua Lua, 14. Inigo Calderon, 18. Gary Dicker,35.  Jake  Forster-Caskey, 3. Gordon Greer, 12. Craig Mackail-Smith, 9. Ashley Barnes.

Last Time We Were There

Burnley's first ever visit to the Amex came not much more than a year ago, on the Saturday before Christmas 2011. The record books will say we won the game 1-0 with a 32nd minute goal from Kieran Trippier but that hardly tells the story of a bizarre and controversial game.

Eddie Howe recalled Dean Marney who had missed the previous game and Martin Paterson who had been out since the first game of the season. Junior Stanislas and Sam Vokes made way.

Lee Grant was positioned right in front of the Burnley supporters in the first half and for the first three minutes or so we saw little action as the Clarets took the game to their hosts but all of a sudden the game changed.

Kieran Trippier scored his first Burnley league goal

For reasons unknown to most of us, referee Craig Pawson stopped the game to go and speak to his fourth official. It looked as though something serious had happened and when he came back on he was pointing at Marvin Bartley.

Fearing the worst here I had no idea that he was merely pointing out that Bartley was the victim of a thrown punch and out came the red card for Romain Vincelot.

Six minutes later, Chris McCann went in to challenge for the ball and the home fans were baying for blood demanding a red card. They got it, but it wasn't McCann who went but Brighton's Ashley Barnes for stamping on the Burnley captain.

Twelve minutes gone. Brighton were down to nine men and Gus Poyet was beginning to lose it on the touchline. On the pitch, Burnley were making little progress against depleted opposition but just past the half hour we went in front when Kieran Trippier scored his first league goal for the club with a shot from just outside the box following a corner.

We seemed content to just knock the ball sideways without making much progress and Brighton weren't really able to get the ball off us too much. The one consolation for the rest of the game was that we were winning and didn't look as though we would do anything but win the game.

It was the Burnley fans who were now getting frustrated with their team and that frustration was turning to anger as Brighton went for it in the last few minutes.

They forced a save out of Lee Grant. They had a goal disallowed. They fired a shot wide and then finally saw David Edgar clear what looked like a Craig Mackail-Smith equaliser off the line.

But, at th end of the day it was a fourth win in five games and the three points had taken us up to 11th in the table.

The teams were;

Brighton: Casper Ankergren, Adam El-Abd, Gordon Greer, Lewis Dunk, Mauricio Taricco, Liam Bridcutt (Will Buckley 89), Ryan Harley (Craig Noone 20), Romain Vincelot, Kazenga LuaLua (Alan Navarro 20), Ashley Barnes, Craig Mackail-Smith. Subs not used: Peter Brezovan, Billy Paynter.

Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Ross Wallace, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Marvin Bartley (Sam Vokes 45), Martin Paterson (Charlie Austin 66), Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Jon Stewart, Andre Amougou, Junior Stanislas.

Previous Games against Brighton

Click HERE to see all previous results against Brighton