Clarets going Posh looking for a win

The Middlesbrough defeat was a shocker; the fans certainly let it be known what they thought and Eddie Howe admitted it was the worst display yet under his management.

Marvin Bartley set to start

Players have come out and said they will turn things round. David Edgar said the day after the game that they would put things right and yesterday goalkeeper Brian Jensen has said that the fans need to stand by the young players in the squad.

I read the other day that we couldn't possibly entertain playing the same eleven at Peterborough but that eleven was the same as played at Derby in the previous game when we won our first league game of the season.

The question has been asked as to which is the real Burnley. Is it the team at Derby, that did so well against a side who hadn't dropped a point, or is it the team that were so poor last week? No one knows the answer, but time will tell.

This week the players have all been there. We've not been waiting for anyone coming back from international duty at the last minute. It's been a week where we could prepare for the game and I'm sure when the players left for Peterborough on Friday morning they did so in a more positive mind.

What will the team be? With no new loan signings it will surely be the same again. Alex MacDonald will be added to the squad but I suspect he'll be the one left out and it will be the same sixteen as were on duty against Middlesbrough.

I don't think there will be many changes to the starting eleven but a first start since April for Marvin Bartley wouldn't come as a surprise, with probably Dean Marney dropping to the subs bench. That was one of the changes made during the defeat last week.

The only other change I can see as a possibility is Junior Stanislas maybe coming in for Keith Treacy but other than that I think it will just about be same again.

We could line up: Brian Jensen, Kieran Trippier, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace, Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Keith Treacy (or Junior Stanislas), Charlie Austin, Jay Rodriguez. Subs: Lee Grant, Andre Amougou, Dean Marney, Zavon Hines, Junior Stanislas (or Keith Treacy).

Our Opponents - Peterborough United

Peterborough have had a run in recent years where they've not stopped in a division for longer than a season. They were runners up in League Two in 2007/08 and a year later finished in the same position in League One.

Their stay in the Championship was just one season but back in League One last season they won promotion again, this time beating Huddersfield in the play off final.

All three promotions have been won with Darren Ferguson in charge, assisted by former Claret Kevin 'Rooster; Russell. He's had two spells in charge at London Road. He lost his job during the relegation season of 2009/10 and had a difficult year at Preston North End before returning to Peterborough.

They are a team who score a lot of goals. Last season they netted an incredible 106 league goals. Craig Mackail-Smith was the leading goalscorer with no less than 27 league goals but the club announced he would be moving to the Premier League only to see him sign for Championship rivals Brighton.

Aaron McLean was also amongst the goals last season but joined Hull City in January whilst George Boyd scored 15 goals and he's the one that remains with the club.

This season they have made a decent start and sit in the top half of the league with seven points. They've already scored 12 goals at two goals per game but that's been boosted by the 7-1 home win against Ipswich, an incredible game where they went from 1-0 down after half an hour to 6-1 up just 26 minutes later.

They haven't scored a goal since in three games. They went out of the Carling Cup at home to Middlesbrough and have lost league games at Millwall and at home to Hull where McLean predictably scored the only goal.

Ferguson confirmed that he knew what his team was going to be and who the subs were and said that he expected Gabriel Zakuani to be fit to play. That would leave just Dave Hibbert out with injury.

He hinted that there would be changes from the team that lost to Hull last week, and that team was: Paul Jones, Mark Little, Ryan Bennett, Gabriel Zakuani, Lee Tomlin, George Boyd, Grant McCann, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Lee Frecklington, Paul Taylor, Craig Alcock. Subs: Joe Lewis, Emile Sinclair, Ben Gordon, Scott Wooton, Tommy Rowe.

Last Time We Were There

Of all the teams in the Championship this season we have to go back further for our last games against Peterborough than any other. We've not met in any competition since the 1996/97 season when Adrian Heath was in charge of Burnley.

Our trip to London Road that season came on a Friday night just five days before Christmas. We'd just seen a decent run of results come to an end with a 2-1 home win over Brentford and travelled to Peterborough in fifth place in the league with our opponents in the relegation places.

Damian Matthew scored our second

It's never been a good ground for us but we'd won for the first and only time there the season before. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a second win and the home side, who included recent Watford and Coventry boss Aidy Boothroyd at right back, were deserving of the points in a 3-2 win.

It was all promising at the start. Paul Barnes forced a good save out of Posh keeper Bark Griemink in the first minute and on six minutes the record signing striker gave us the lead. Chris Brass won the ball and fed Paul Smith on the left.

Smith made a fantastic 50-yard run before squaring for Kurt Nogan who unselfishly played it to Barnes who hit his shot into the roof of the net.

Rather than set us up for a winning performance, it  seemed to lift Peterborough. They were level on 20 minutes with a Martin Carruthers goal after good work from Ken Charlery and seven minutes later went in front when Carruthers headed home after a mistake by Gary Parkinson.

Even so, we should have been level by half time but David Eyres missed from the penalty spot and on the hour when a Parkinson back pass was nicked away from Charlery by Marlon Beresford but straight into the path of David Morrison who made it 3-1.

Heath introduced Glen Little for his debut and we did pull one back seven minutes from the end hit a 30-yarder into the net, but it  was too little too late and Peterborough won it 3-2.

The teams were;

Peterborough: Bart Griemink, Aidy Boothroyd, Simon Clark, Andy Edwards, Greg Heald, Roger Willis, Scott Houghton (Niall Inman 89), Derek Payne, Martin Carruthers, Ken Charlery, Dave Morrison. Subs not used: Tony Spearing, Zeke Rowe.

Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Gary Parkinson, Mark Winstanley, Chris Brass, Jamie Hoyland (Glen Little 76), David Eyres, Damian Matthew, Nigel Gleghorn, Paul Smith, Kurt Nogan, Paul Barnes. Subs not used: Chris Vinnicombe, Paul Weller.

Previous Games against Peterborough United

Click HERE to see all previous results against Peterborough United