Burnley looking for place in last 16

It's the 3rd round tonight, and a round we've reached or gone beyond in each of the last five seasons now. We went out at this stage in 2007/08 and 2009/10, reached the fourth round last season and of course three seasons ago were semi-finalists.

Lee Grant - expected to return

We've reached this stage with two extra-time home wins against League Two clubs Burton Albion and Barnet. We've scored nine goals in those two ties with Jay Rodriguez scoring five of them, the others coming from Charlie Austin, Ross Wallace, Wade Elliott and Chris McCann.

Tonight it's a tougher game for two reasons. The opposition, MK Franchise, are from a higher division and we go into the game having lost our two previous league games with two very disappointing performances.

Manager Eddie Howe has given little away with his team selection. As was the case in the last two rounds he's hinted at making some changes, but in the last two rounds he made very few, and he's even suggested a different formation.

He'll definitely be making one change from Saturday. Goalkeeper Brian Jensen is ruled out with a groin injury and Lee Grant, who came on after just 17 minutes at Peterborough, is the likely deputy with Jon Stewart, yet to feature at first team level, expected to be on the bench.

Dean Marney had a stomach problem on Saturday and Ben Mee was knocked out in the closing stages but was able to return to complete the game. There were initial fears that both could miss out but it now looks as though both will be included in the squad.

Only one other player, besides Jensen, is ruled out and that's Junior Stanislas who played and scored in West Ham's 2nd round defeat at home to Aldershot.

With seven substitutes tonight, I would expect Howe to select from: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Keith Treacy, Charlie Austin, Jay Rodriguez, Jon Stewart, Andre Amougou, Marvin Bartley, Zavon Hines, Alex MacDonald, Steven Hewitt, Dominic Knowles, Mehdi Lazaar.

Our Opponents

MK Franchise have reached this round by winning two away games and scoring 8 goals, just one less than the Clarets.

In the 1st round they won 4-1 at Cheltenham with the goals from Sam Baldock, Jabo Ibehre, Dean Lewington and Angelo Balanta. They went one better next time with a 4-0 win at Norwich where former Burnley loan man Luke Chadwick scored twice with Baldock and Daniel Powell on the scoresheet.

The win at Norwich was the club's first ever win at a Premier League ground but they've since sold Baldock to West Ham and replaced him with Brentford's Charlie MacDonald who, like Stanislas, has already played in the competition.

They come to Turf Moor tonight with an inexperienced side.  Eight players who have graduated through their academy will be in the 18 man squad tonight. They are Adam Chicksen (20), Tom Flanagan (19), George Baldock (18), Daniel Powell (20), Harry Milton (19) and Charlie Collins (18) along with Joel Gyasi and Stefan Powell who are members of their youth squad.

Apart from MacDonald, they are also without Gary MacKenzie who was sent off on Saturday, although there is positive news with a return from suspension for Ibehre.

Expected to be in the squad is another former loan player in Dean Bowditch, Shaun Williams, who played in our reserves at Shrewsbury earlier this year, Adam Smith, the right back on loan from Spurs who was linked with us all summer, and Anthony McNamee, who tormented us during the second half against Norwich at Carrow Road last season.

They were top of the league a couple of weeks ago but a defeat at Sheffield Wednesday plus a draw at home against Huddersfield have seen them drop to fourth.

Their team against Huddersfield on Saturday was: David Martin, Adam Smith, Gary MacKenzie, Mark Beevers, Dean Lewington, Darren Potter, Stephen Gleeson, Daniel Powell, Shaun Williams, Luke Chadwick, Dean Bowditch. Subs: Ian McLoughlin, Adam Chicksen, Anthony McNamee, Lewis Guy, George Baldock.

Last Time We Met In The Cup

We've played them once previously and that was in the FA Cup 3rd round two seasons ago. We won 2-1 at stadium: mk but the game will almost certainly be best remembered for our manager's wave at the end and the words of his assistant. 

Stephen Jordan had been sent off in the previous league game at Everton with his partner full back partner Tyrone Mears picking up a ridiculous yellow card from Howard Webb. It meant both were ruled out with suspension and Owen Coyle brought in Richard Eckersley and Christian Kalvenes to an otherwise unchanged team. 

Sandy Stewart had the last word

We started with a 4-4-2 but quickly changed it to a more familiar 4-1-4-1 formation after a difficult start and the improvement was immediate and it was no surprise when we went in front midway through the first half. 

Steven Fletcher was fouled by Mathias Doumbe in the box and referee Tony Bates had no option but to award the penalty from which Graham Alexander scored. 

Ten minutes later it was 2-0 after Fletcher finished following good work from Chris Eagles and at half time it looked as though we were coasting through despite never having looked anything like our best. 

The second half was a different story as we were put under a lot of pressure. They got one back through Dean Morgan following a predictable long throw and things might have been a lot more difficult had Brian Jensen not been in good form in goal. 

As it was, it ended 2-1 and won us an away tie against Reading. There had been a lot of speculation that Coyle, who two days earlier had said the Bolton job was for someone else, might be ready to move to the Reebok. This game ended with Coyle taking his curtain call and the Burnley fans letting it be known loud and clear they wanted him to stay. 

He didn't turn up for the press conference after the game, instead, and for the first time as Burnley manager, letting Sandy Stewart face the press. When asked about the situation, Stewart said: "I do know that Owen is very happy at Burnley. We have worked very hard and we think we have done a reasonable job here, so we are quite happy. Owen and I have a great partnership and we have worked together at St. Johnstone and Burnley.

"Hopefully that partnership will continue and right at this moment in time that's at Burnley Football Club. We love it here and we think we are taking the club forward and that's all we are interested in." 

And to think we believed him. 

The teams that day were; 

MK Franchise: Willie Gueret, Luke Howell (Jude Stirling 80), Danny Woodards, Mathias Doumbe, Dean Lewington, Jason Puncheon, Stephen Gleeson, Peter Leven, Jermaine Easter (Dean Morgan 80), Aaron Wilbraham, Sam Baldock (Luke Chadwick 55). Subs not used: Jemal Johnson, Mark Carrington, Lewis Gobern, Darren Powell.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Richard Eckersley, Michael Duff, Andre Bikey, Christian Kalvenes, Wade Elliott, Kevin McDonald (Joey Gudjonsson 71), Graham Alexander, Chris Eagles, Robbie Blake, Steven Fletcher (Steven Thompson 87). Subs not used: Diego Penny, David Edgar, Brian Easton, Alex-Ray Harvey, Fernando Guerrero.

Previous Games against MK Franchise