Clarets getting a Royal visit

Our little run of consecutive wins, four in total, came to an end last Monday when we were held to a 0-0 draw by Derby in front of the Sky cameras, but the point enabled us to move back into third place in the table where we now sit two points behind Middlesbrough and a further three points behind Brighton who have made a terrific unbeaten start to the season.

Our visitors Reading are in sixth place. They have three points less than us and will provide us with a difficult game as we look to record a first win of the season against a side in the top half of the league.

As the league stands now, we've played four teams in the top half, drawing three of them and losing the other at Ipswich with our four wins coming against teams who are currently placed 14th and below.

It's a stat and nothing more. When Reading last visited us in October 2013 there were questions being asked about our ability to beat the supposed better teams. They were fifth then and wed' won seven of our opening ten games. Only one of those wins had come against a top half team at the time and that was Leeds in 11th place.

Michael Kightly is looking to add some goals

We've made our good start to the season while keeping an unchanged defence and an unchanged midfield, the only alterations coming to the team up front as Sean Dyche has juggled with a pairing while dealing with striker injuries and departures.

Michael Kightly has been on the left of midfield. Having started only ten Premier League games last season, he's been very much back in favour with eight league starts already although he's played the full ninety minutes on only one occasion.

He played his part at Derby on Monday and said of that game: "It was a good point for us. In the first half we played pretty well but Andre going off took away that pace in behind which helped them, and second half they had a real go but we dug in.

"To be a successful team you need to be solid first and foremost and then build on that and get your goals. The season we got promoted we had that and we're showing we've got that at the minute so hopefully we can build on that and take it into Saturday's game."

With Dean Marney and Fredrik Ulvestad edging ever closer to full fitness, and Joey Barton ready to come into the midfield, Kightly knows his place is one that might be vulnerable. He's aware of that, and happy with the challenge but said he'd like to add some goals to his game as he did during the promotion season, particularly in those last few games.

"I haven't had many chances aside from the one at Ipswich where I hit the post but I've been getting a fair few crosses in and I want to feed the strikers as well as contributing myself," he added.

"As a right footed player on the left I like to go down the by-line and get balls in with my left as well as sometimes drifting inside to keep the full back guessing. A goal for Vokesy showed that against MK and hopefully there are more to come."

The one doubt for Burnley is Andre Gray. Forced off with a hamstring injury he's been rated touch and go by Sean Dyche who I would think will give German Rouwen Hennings his first home start should Gray not make it.

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

Reading's start to the season has been comparable to ours in that they've played exactly the same eight teams we've faced but they've won one less game and been beaten twice, by Birmingham and Derby.

They've failed to score in three of their four home games, although they did net five against Ipswich in the other, but have scored in each and every one of their four away games, winning at Brentford and Bristol City.

Nick Blackman leads the way for them with five goals, including one penalty, while Orlando Sa has scored four times including a hat trick in that game against Ipswich.

Sa was the first of their many summer signings, arriving from Legia Warsaw. They also signed both Stephen Quinn and Paul McShane from Hull while bringing in four players on season long loans including Alex Fernandez from Espanyol, Ola John from Benfica and Watford's Matej Vydra.

They've been taken over again after they dropped into a critical financial state with the club believed to be close to collapse to the point where they were being forced to sell players to pay tax bills.

But they were then taken over by a group of Thailand based investment companies owned by Narin Niruttinanon, Sasima Srivikorn and Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth and things have certainly improved dramatically financially, detailed by the fact that they were able to take Vydra on loan while paying his full wages plus a £2.5 million loan fee to Watford.

Manager Steve Clarke knows all about Vydra; he was West Brom manager in the 2013/14 season when they took Vydra on loan from Udinese and he moved quickly to get him to Reading when Watford made him available despite him having just signed a five year deal at Vicarage Road.

Reading have no major injury worried. Anton Ferdinand remains out with a thigh strain while Hal Robson-Kanu is rated doubtful and Sa sits out the last game of a three match ban after he was sent off in their defeat to Derby.

Clarke made eight changes for their Capital One Cup tie against Everton which they lost 2-1, but he's likely to name a side similar to that which won at Bristol City a week ago. with Aaron Tshibola likely to replace Daniel Williams.

They lined up at Ashton Gate: Jonathan Bond, Chris Gunter, Paul McShane, Michael Hector, Jordan Obita, Oliver Norwood, Matej Vydra, Daniel Williams, Stephen Quinn, Garath McCleary, Nick Blackman, Matej Vydra. Subs not used: Ali Al-Habsi, Ola John, Simon Cox, Jake Cooper, Lucas Piazon, Paolo Hurtado, Aaron Tshibola.

Last Time They Were Here

Four days before Reading's last visit to the Turf we had gone top of the league with a 2-0 win against Doncaster at the Keepmoat. We headed the league on goal difference from both QPR and Leicester with QPR having a game in hand.

By the end of the game were still top; QPR were still behind on goal difference but Leicester had failed to do what we'd done and lost at Doncaster to now trail the top two by three points.

This was our first stiff task of the season, facing a team that were one of the favourites for promotion, but we capped a fantastic week for the club with a superb performance and a 2-1 win against Reading which followed Sean Dyche winning the September Manager of the Month Award and Danny Ings getting an England under-21 call up.

Danny Ings opens the scoring

The scoreline just didn't show how much better than Reading we were in this game. With Dean Marney back in place of David Edgar, this was a polished performance from the Clarets that allowed the Burnley supporters a few more days at least to chant: "We are top of the league. "

The first goal came midway through the first half and it was very much classic Burnley 2013/14 with Kieran Trippier providing the assist for Ings to score. You could argue a case that the two central defenders, Alex Pearce and then Sean Morrison, might have dealt with the cross but the later television highlights confirmed that Tripps should take great credit as should Ings who got in behind them to score from close range.

We were dominant and all of Michael Kightly, David Jones and Dean Marney came close to doubling the lead and the only surprise was that we didn't get our second until ten minutes from the end although much of the credit for that went to Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy who was in scintillating form.

It was superb work from Kightly when that second goal did come. He did so well to recover a ball and then played it up for Ings who in turn played in Sam Vokes. The striker wasn't going to miss this opportunity. He drew McCarthy towards him then shot across him into the far bottom corner.

It's 2-0 as Sam Vokes knocks the ball past Alex McCarthy

Incredibly the two goal lead lasted only two minutes. Tom Heaton had really had nothing to do all second half but a cross came in which Pavel Pogrebnyak, who had made no real contribution, headed against the post. The ball came out, hit Jason Shackell and went into the net for an own goal.

Suddenly there were nerves in the stand but not on the pitch. We saw out the game without any sort of scare whatsoever. Burnley were still very much top of the league.

The teams were;

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

Reading: Alex McCarthy, Chris Gunter, Sean Morrison, Alex Pearce, Wayne Bridge, Hal Robson-Kanu (Nick Blackman 58), Chris Baird (Jake Taylor 58), Danny Guthrie, Jordan Obita, Jobi McAnuff (Adam Le Fondre 59), Pavel Pogrebnyak. Subs not used: Adam Federici, Stephen Kelly, Kaspars Gorkss, Hope Akpan.

Previous Games against Reading

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