Last Saturday was a disappointment. Having picked up eight points in the previous four games there were high hopes of another good result against QPR at Loftus Road. Unfortunately it was not to be. We should have certainly been in front by half time but failed to find the net and were hit with two goals from QPR in the second half.
It took them above us in the league, leaving us back in 19th place, a position we held when Leicester were beaten on the following day at Villa.
We haven't played too often against Southampton in recent years but we did have four seasons in the Championship together from 2005 to 2009 and then again, for one season, in 2011/12.
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| Ben Mee feels like we belong in the Premier League |
The 2008/09 home game was played against them on the same date as this one, the 13th December, when we turned a certain victory into a close call. Chris Perry, playing alongside Jack Cork at the back, put through his own goal on four minutes and seven minutes later we were 3-0 up with a Joey Gudjonsson brace. Rudi Skacel and Andrew Surman scored second half goals but we hung on for the points at 3-2.
We went up that season and Southampton, together with the poverty pleading buckets, went down but now we are set to play each other in the top flight for the first time since the 1973/74 season when we drew 2-2 at the Dell and won 3-0 at home with goals from Paul Fletcher, Leighton James and Geoff Nulty.
Back to 2014 though and the continued search for more points in a league where the team five places above us, Sunderland, have only three points more.
Ben Mee has been back in the side recently and speaking this week, he said: "We are growing and the lads are more confident in what we're doing. Having said that, at the beginning of the season we believed in ourselves as well from what we did last season."
He added: "We feel like we belong here and it's great to go on a little run. It's going to be a tough few weeks for us now, but hopefully we can get some good results and that will push us on even more.
"On Saturday, the pressure could be on Southampton and coming to our ground they will find out that it is not as easy as they might expect. Hopefully we can use that to our advantage."
Mee started the season in the left back position but lost his place after the home game against West Ham with Stephen Ward, a summer signing from Wolves, coming in to the side. An injury to Ward ten days ago in the Newcastle game has seen Mee win his place back and he'll certainly continue tomorrow.
Ward has a hairline fracture in his ankle and this week it was confirmed that he will be out for at least six weeks. Sean Dyche said: "Stephen Ward has had a couple of pins put in his ankle bone, but it sounds worse than it is.
"It's going to be weeks rather than months, but I would imagine it will certainly be six and above."
Michael Duff remains out with the calf injury sustained at Stoke. Dyche said of him: "Michael Duff is getting better and closer. He was out on the grass today, but this weekend will probably come a bit too quick for him."
The manager confirmed that Matt Taylor, missing since August with an Achilles injury that required surgery, was on track but still some weeks away and reiterated that Sam Vokes was still not under consideration as he makes his way back from the ruptured anterior ligament he sustained in the home game against Leicester last season.
Vokes played the full 90 minutes this week in a behind closed doors game at Wigan. "Sam is feeling better physically and mentally," Dyche said. "It's a big marker for players to get their first 90 minutes.
"It feels like pre-season for him at the minute. You can come back from close season, get back into your games and the big marker is when you get the first 90 minutes under your belt and how you feel.
"It is as important as how you play, and for Sam at the minute, it really is the mentality of playing for 90 minutes and then we take it forward from there."
Who will be in the team tomorrow? With none of the injured players back I'd expect it to be very similar to the team that lined up at kick off last week against QPR.
If so, we'll line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Scott Arfield, Dean Marney, David Jones, George Boyd, Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Kevin Long, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ross Wallace, Michael Kightly, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell.
Southampton. They were the club most pundits and football supporters were placing in a bottom three position before the season started.
No one could quite understand what was going on at St. Mary's. They'd had a good 2013/14 season in the Premier League but then lost manager Mauricio Pochettino to Spurs before a mass exodus of players, three of them to Liverpool.
But in came new manager Ronald Koeman along with some new players and they've had a season so far that is far removed from what was expected of them.
After 12 games only Chelsea were above them in the table. They had 26 points from those games, were two points ahead of third and were a healthy seven points clear of fourth place.
Things have changed slightly since. They'd lost only two of those 12 games but have since lost three in succession. That's seen them drop into fifth place, their lowest position since August, but it has to be noted those defeats have come against Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs.
I saw their 12th game, a 1-1 draw at Villa when they didn't look very impressive, but I also saw the last of those three defeats last Monday against Manchester United. That was a game they really should not have lost; they were the better side and United must have wondered how on earth they got anything from it, let alone all three points.
What Southampton do have is the best defence in the Premier League. They conceded only 12 goals and coming up against Burnley, the worst attack in terms of goals, you would expect them to be keeping a clean sheet.
All of the top four have scored more goals than the Saints, who have 25, but all of the teams below them have scored less. Italian Graziano Pelle, a summer signing from Feyenoord where he had played for Koeman, has scored seven of them with both Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin, who scored on their last visit to Turf Moor, having netted three each.
Schneiderlin will make the trip with the squad to Burnley. He's been out injured and it is unlikely that he'll be fit enough to play in this game. They have better news with Toby Alderweireld who is available again and James Ward-Prowse who has been out since September but could win a place on the bench on his return from a fractured foot.
There won't be any ex-Clarets on view for the Saints. Koeman said yesterday that Jay Rodriguez has had to take a step back as he continues his recovery and said there is no date set for his return amidst fears that he might not play again this season.
Jay Rod's former Burnley team mate Jack Cork is also out. Koeman just said: "Cork is out for more weeks."
Alderweireld and Ward-Prowse will be added to those on duty last Monday. They were: Fraser Forster, Nathaniel Clyne, Jose Fonte, Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand, Steven Davis, Victor Wanyama, Dusan Tadic, Shane Long, Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Florin Gardos, Matt Targett, Harry Reed, Lloyd Isgrove, Jake Hesketh, Emmanuel Mayuka.
Last Time They Were Here
Southampton's last visit to Turf Moor was in September 2011. We were in our second season back in the Championship after relegation in what proved to be Eddie Howe's only full season as manager. Southampton were back in the Championship having just spent the two previous seasons in League One.
I think it is fair to say they had started the season better than us. They arrived in Burnley on top of the league with 18 points from their first seven games; Burnley were 20th with five points although we did have a game in hand.
Our only win had come at Derby and we went into the game on the back of two defeats, at home to Middlesbrough and at Peterborough, although we'd in the midweek we'd won through to the fourth round of the Carling Cup.
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| Marvin Bartley's best performance for Burnley |
We were searching for our first home league win of the season and still were at the final whistle, but the performance in a 1-1 draw against the league leaders was much improved on previous games and probably included Marvin Bartley's best ever performance in a Burnley shirt.
Howe made four changes to the side that had lost at Peterborough. Lee Grant came in for Brian Jensen with Andre Amougou replacing Ben Mee. Both Jensen and Mee had suffered injuries at Peterborough; Jensen was ruled out but Mee was fit enough to take his place on the bench.
A late hamstring injury to Keith Treacy forced Howe to make a change in the wide positions; Junior Stanislas given his first start, and Bartley was preferred to Dean Marney in midfield.
We didn't offer too much in the first half in terms of a goal threat and Kelvin Davis didn't have a single save to make of any note, but we had more tempo to our game than we 'd had in previous games, we passed the ball better and were much the better side.
There were two ex-Clarets on show. Danny Fox was booed throughout while Jack Cork was applauded initially and then largely ignored as he had one of the least effective games I'd seen him play.
The goals came in the second half when a third Burnley ex-Claret came on in Richard Chaplow. He had a good game but just eight minutes into the half we took the lead when a Brian Easton cross was headed down by Jay Rodriguez for Charlie Austin to hit home.
But the equaliser came ten minutes from the end as Burnley, according to Howe, ran out of gas. Morgan Schneiderlin got it, converting a cross from, predictably, Danny Fox. The wait for a home win would run another three days when Steve McClaren brought his Forest team to town.
The teams in this game were;
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Andre Amougou, David Edgar, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace (Zavon Hines 87), Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Junior Stanislas (Dean Marney 73), Charlie Austin (Alex MacDonald 90+2). Subs not used: Jon Stewart, Ben Mee.
Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Frazer Richardson, Jose Fonte, Jos Hooiveld, Danny Fox, Guly Do Prado (Richard Chaplow 45), Dean Hammond (Morgan Schneiderlin 62), Jack Cork, Adam Lallana, David Connolly, Rickie Lambert. Subs not used: Bartosz Bialkowski, Aaron Martin, Steve De Ridder.
Previous Games against Southampton
| Last 20 Years | |||||
| Season | Comp | Ven | Res | Att | Scorers |
| 2005/06 | Championship | a | 1-1 | 21,592 | Akinbiyi |
| h | 1-1 | 10,636 | Gray | ||
| 2006/07 | Championship | h | 2-3 | 13,051 | Jones, Gray |
| a | 0-0 | 20,486 | |||
| 2007/08 | Championship | h | 2-3 | 10,944 | McCann, Akinbiyi |
| a | 1-0 | 21,762 | Caldwell | ||
| 2008/09 | Championship | h | 3-2 | 11,229 | Perry(og), Gudjonsson(2) |
| a | 2-2 | 23,927 | Alexander(pen), Carlisle | ||
| 2011/12 | Championship | h | 1-1 | 14,170 | Austin |
| a | 0-2 | 24,099 | |||
| 2013/14 | FA Cup | a | 3-4 | 15,077 | Vokes, Ings, Long |
Click HERE to see all previous results against Southampton