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Although we are still not at the critical stage of the season, we have now gone another four games since we last won against West Ham and with wins recently for Bolton, Sunderland and Wigan things are beginning to get stretched down at the bottom.
We've no idea how many points we are going to need but it would be a real boost if we could get some this week from the two home games. If we could go into the last eight games, four at home and four away, outside the bottom three it would give us a much needed platform for the rest of the season.
Our opponents Stoke were another side, like us, who were expected to be relegated in the first season after winning promotion in 2008. They struggled for much of last season but a good run late in the season saw them well clear of the bottom three.
They've built on that this season and are now very close to safety having accrued 34 points with another eleven games remaining. They've even had a cup run and missed out on the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday when they went down to Chelsea.
They will give us a tough game tonight, no doubt about that, and we will need to be very vigilant every time they win a set piece, none more so than from throw ins. They come to Burnley on a good run too, Arsenal are the only team to have beaten them in a Premier League game in 2010.
Ryan Shawcross is ruled out of the game tonight. He received a three match ban after being sent off for the recent challenge on Aaron Ramsey. He missed the cup tie against Chelsea and tonight will see him serve the second of those three matches.
They also have one or two players doubtful including midfielder Glenn Whelan, a player Brian Laws knows all about and one we tried to sign from Sheffield Wednesday in January two years ago.
There are also some doubts about Danny Higginbotham, Matthew Etherington, James Beattie and Salif Diao.
The Stoke team for the cup tie was: Thomas Sorensen, Andy Wilkinson, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Huth, Danny Collins, Dean Whitehead, Glenn Whelan, Rory Delap, Tuncay Sanli, Mamady Sidibe, Ricardo Fuller. Subs: Steve Simonsen, Andrew Davies, Liam Lawrence, Dave Kitson, Danny Pugh, Amdy Faye, Louis Moult.
Brian Laws will hope to have Steven Fletcher available again after he missed the Arsenal game on Saturday with a broken bone in his hand. It was the first game Fletcher had missed this season in the league and that leaves just Brian Jensen and Tyrone Mears as the ever presents.
Laws has been tinkering with the side in recent weeks with Wade Elliott and Robbie Blake favoured in home games and Chris Eagles in away games. However, the player who must be closest to losing his place must be Kevin McDonald who had another very disappointing afternoon at the Emirates.
If he decides to stick with the side on duty last Saturday we would line up: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Leon Cort, Danny Fox, Graham Alexander, Martin Paterson, Jack Cork, Kevin McDonald, Chris Eagles, David Nugent. Subs from: Nicky Weaver, Michael Duff, Stephen Jordan, Andre Bikey, Wade Elliott, Robbie Blake, Steven Fletcher, David Edgar plus Steven Fletcher if available.
Stoke's last visit to Turf Moor heralded a new era at Turf Moor, one that took us to the Premier League yet ended in the mess of the beginning of this year when the Biblical One hopped it to Horwich.
It was his first game as Burnley manager on a day when we looked more like Argentina than Burnley, playing in a sky blue and white striped shirt.
Although there were no goals in the game it was an encouraging first game under the new manager.
The teams were;
Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Alan Mahon (Joey Gudjonsson 80), Chris McCann, Kyle Lafferty (Ade Akinbiyi 77), Robbie Blake (Steve Jones 87), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, James O'Connor.
Stoke: Steve Simonsen, Stephen Wright, Leon Cort, Ryan Shawcross, Danny Pugh, Rory Delap, Dominic Matteo, John Eustace, Richard Cresswell, Vincent Pericard (Jon Parkin 51), Mamady Sidibe. Subs not used: Russell Hoult, Andy Wilkinson, Gabriel Zakuani, Carl Dickinson.
It's back to the 1975/76 season for our last top flight meeting at Turf Moor. We failed to score on that occasion too, but a goal ten minutes into the second half gave Stoke a 1-0 win.
Our team that day was: Alan Stevenson, Mick Docherty, Keith Newton, Peter Noble, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Mike Summerbee, Frank Casper, Paul Fletcher, Brian Flynn, Leighton James.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1990/91 | FAC | h | 2-0 | 12,949 | Francis White |
1992/93 | 2 | h | 0-2 | 16,667 | . |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 21,840 | Randall |
1994/95 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 15,331 | Davis |
| . | . | a | 0-2 | 13,040 | . |
1997/98 | LC | h | 0-4 | 4,175 | . |
| . | . | a | 0-2 | 6,041 | . |
1998/99 | 2 | h | 0-2 | 10,575 | . |
| . | . | a | 4-1 | 10,965 | Pickering Payton Little(2) |
1999/2000 | 2 | h | 1-0 | 11,328 | Payton |
| . | . | a | 2-2 | 15,354 | Payton(2 1pen) |
2002/03 | 1 | h | 2-1 | 14,244 | Gnohere Papadopoulos |
. | . | a | 1-0 | 12,874 | West |
2003/04 | 1 | a | 2-1 | 14,876 | May Chadwick |
| . | . | h | 0-1 | 12,812 | . |
2004/05 | C | h | 2-2 | 12,981 | Moore Blake(pen) |
. | . | a | 1-0 | 15,689 | Cahill |
2005/06 | C | h | 1-0 | 17,912 | Akinbiyi |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 12,082 | . |
2006/07 | C | a | 1-0 | 12,247 | Gray |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 12,109 | . |
2007/08 | C | h | 0-0 | 11,758 | . |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 18,432 | Lafferty |
2009/10 | PL | a | 0-2 | 27,385 | . |