Clarets are back at Pride Park

There was a time when a game against Derby was almost guaranteed to end without a victory. We went from 1951 to 1995 without a solitary league win, home or away, but things have changed in recent years.

That sequence of results show that I never saw Burnley win at the old Baseball Ground, but tonight I'm visiting a ground where I've six times seen us record victories, once in the FA Cup and since that day in 1999 we've won five league games there including our last four visits.

That, as Sean Dyche rightly says, will count for nothing tonight and we face a tough game against a side who have been tipped to be right up there this season.

But we go there in good form having won each of our last four league games, this after failing to win any of the first three as we shuffled the forwards in search of the best pairing.

David Jones says our performances are growing

Our hand was forced, to an extent, with the departures of both Jelle Vossen and Marvin Sordell and with Lukas Jutkiewicz joining Ashley Barnes in the cruciate group. That's left us with four strikers to choose from with three of them having come in during the last window to join Sam Vokes.

Vokes is currently in place up front alongside Andre Gray, but Rouwen Hennings and Chris Long are very much in contention now and both have been used as substitutes in each of the last two games. Long has been on only fleetingly, but Hennings has looked good in each game, coming on at 1-1 in the Sheff Wed and then at 2-1 last Tuesday when we beat MK.

We know we will be facing former captain Jason Shackell tonight; we could be up against Lee Grant too although Chris Baird won't be in the Derby squad.

But we've got our former Ram in David Jones. Since joining the Clarets he's missed just two league games, those at West Brom and Leicester last season, and scored the first of his two league goals for us against Derby at home in the promotion season.

Looking forward to returning to Derby tonight, he said: "I feel as the season has gone on we've grown in our performances and we've got a little bit of momentum. To win four games in a row in any league is a difficult thing and we'll be looking to continue that good run of form.

"I think we're a difficult team to play against. We've got experience where even if we're not hitting top form we can still get the result that we need. We'll be going into the game knowing it's a tough one but hopefully we can continue and even build on what we've done so far."

Jones has been a fixture in the side since signing for us just ahead of the 2013/14 season and he's been in outstanding form in each of the last two wins as he was in the second half at Ashton Gate.

It looks as though he's likely to play in an unchanged Burnley team, but what of latest signing Joey Barton? Sean Dyche reckoned last Thursday that he's still not there fitness wise and not ready to start, but he did use the word start and, who knows, he might just land himself a place on the bench tonight.

I expect us to line up: Tom Heaton, Tendayi Darikwa, Michael Duff, Michael Keane, Ben Mee, George Boyd, Scott Arfield, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Sam Vokes, Andre Gray. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Matt Lowton, Tom Anderson, Stephen Ward, Joey Barton, Matt Taylor, Rouwen Hennings, Chris Long.

When we won promotion in 2013/14, Derby finished third and failed to go up when they conceded a last minute goal against QPR in the play-off final. They were one of the big favourites last season and were top of the league right up to the end of February and had a six point lead over eventual champions Bournemouth.

I've no idea what went wrong, but they won just twice in their last 13 games, and those wins came against Wigan and Blackpool who were both relegated. Not only did that shocking run of results prevent them from winning the title or gaining automatic promotion, they didn't even make the play-offs, finishing eighth. A win on the last day would have secured fifth place, but they were beaten 3-0 at home by Reading to end a miserable few weeks.

The result of that meant Steve McClaren departed and in his place has come Paul Clement who was working as a coach at Real Madrid.

Derby, now under new ownership, were very active in the transfer window. We all know of their chase for Jason Shackell but they brought in players such as Darren Bent, Tom Ince, Scott Carson and Andreas Weimann and right on the deadline secured deals for midfielders Bradley Johnson and Jacob Butterfield, receiving heavy criticism from Huddersfield boss Chris Powell over the way they handled their chase for Butterfield.

On the field they started with four draws before losing game number five at home against Leeds. But they've picked up, as everyone expected, and won the last two games. Chris Martin scored twice in a 2-1 win at Preston and last Tuesday they won 1-0 at Reading with Ince scoring the goal.

That means they return home tonight, looking for a first home win, and with the confidence of those two away wins.

Ex-Claret Chris Baird is ruled out tonight having suffered concussion in that win at Preston and also out is former Burnley target Craig Bryson but they could welcome back George Thorne who has missed the last two games with a calf injury.

Chris Martin took over the captain's armband from Baird at Reading when they lined up: Scott Carson, Cyrus Christie, Craig Forsyth, Richard Keogh, Jeff Hendrick, Chris Martin, Johnny Russell, Jason Shackell, Bradley Johnson, Jacob Butterfield, Tom Ince. Subs: Lee Grant, Simon Dawkins, Darren Bent, Alex Pearce, Andreas Weimann, Jamie Hanson, Stephen Warnock.

Last Time We Were There

There was definitely pride at Pride Park in August 2013 when we last played there and returned home with a 3-0 win with goals from Danny Ings, Sam Vokes and Jason Shackell.

This was probably the first time in that season when I realised just how good a side we were capable of being. We were outstanding in this fixture and might have won by more yet it could have been a narrower victory if the appalling referee Andy Madley had had his way.

Danny Ings and Sam Vokes had both scored two league goals for us ahead of kick off; with just over half an hour gone in this game both had taken their total to three.

Tom Heaton saves the ridiculously awarded penalty

Ings got the first and what a goal it was. Dean Marney played the ball clear from the edge of our box. It found Keith Treacy who brilliantly flicked it forward for Ings who was still in his own half of the pitch.

He went on a brilliant run which Vokes helped by taking two defenders away, but this was a superb individual goal from Ings who went all the way before sliding the ball past Lee Grant.

At the time, Vokes had got into the habit of getting goals when balls hit him, and he repeated that here as a Will Hughes clearance smashed against him and into the net. But if a player deserved some good fortune on this day it was definitely Vokes, he was absolutely brilliant.

Shackell twice took centre stage in the second half. He won the ball in his own box and then looked on astonished as Madley pointed to the spot. You have to wonder how on earth he came to that conclusion with the perfect view. Thankfully, Tom Heaton saved it and it remained at 2-0.

Sean Dyche applauds the travelling Burnley fans after the 3-0 win

And 2-0 became 3-0 when Shackell got a goal himself, volleying home beyond the far post from a right wing corner.

This was really was an exceptional performance from the Clarets, but not even with the glass full could we have envisaged what was coming that season.

The teams were;

Derby: Lee Grant (in the middle of their goal), Kieron Freeman (Adam Smith ht), Richard Keogh, Jake Buxton, Craig Forsyth, Craig Bryson, Will Hughes, Paul Coutts (Ben Davies 67), Jamie Ward, Johnny Russell (Conor Sammon 75), Chris Martin. Subs not used: Adam Legzdins, Michael Jacobs, John Eustace, Mason Bennett.

Burnley: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Keith Treacy (Junior Stanislas 75), Dean Marney, David Jones (David Edgar, Scott Arfield, Danny Ings, Sam Vokes. Subs not used: Alex Cisak, Kevin Long, Danny Lafferty, Brian Stock, Ryan Noble.

Previous Games against Derby

Click HERE to see all previous results against Derby (no cup games shown prior to season 1986/87)