They're English again

The connections don't end there either, Dave Kevan will be on the touchline alongside manager Steve Cotterill who I'm sure the Stokies will be looking forward to welcoming. They forgot about it last year during one of their crises, with staff having been placed on garden leave the day before.

On the other side there'll be Luke Chadwick who played for three months on loan for the Clarets, yes I know he was here for the duration of the 2003/04 season but he once we'd got into October he hardly featured. He did score for us at Stoke though early in that season.

They were always going to be looking for a new manager in the summer, mard arse Johan Boskamp had enough tantrums to last a career during his one year in charge, and when Peter Coates bought the club back from the Icelandics he immediately decided to bring back Tony Pulis who had been sacked a year earlier for not signing enough foreigners.

Pulis arrived with a squad to be built and his first move was to sign striker Vincent Pericard from Portsmouth. The Cameroon striker had been on loan at Plymouth last season and Pulis was keen on taking him to Home Park on a permanent basis but as soon as he arrived back at Stoke he targeted him immediately.

His only other pre-season signing was defender Danny Higginbotham from Southampton who cost a transfer fee of £225,000 and he returned to St. Mary's on transfer deadline day to bring in our old friend the devout diver Ricardo Fuller. The only other incoming player has been Jeff Whitley who is currently on loan from fellow Championship side Cardiff.

Stoke are currently fifteenth in the table and are already becoming the league's draw specialists having taken one point from five of their league games to date and these are the last five games. Prior to that they had lost at Southend on the opening day of the season before beating Derby three days later.

Click HERE to see all Stoke's results this season.

It will be a close game, it usually is at the Windy City, but it would be nice to get back to winning ways there, our last win coming two seasons ago when Gary Cahill scored the only goal of the game.

Ton Pulis has said he is only two players short of having a side ready to fight for a play off place. He wants a quality midfielder and a pacy winger and has said one of the players he wants to bring in is Burnley's Steve Jones.

He won't get him, he missed out in the summer, and another player he will be without tomorrow is Vincent Pericard who is suffering from a hamstring injury. That leaves the manager to decide on whether to give Fuller his first game since the move from Southampton, he too has been suffering from a hamstring strain.

If Fuller doesn't play then they are likely to start with the side that played in most of the match at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday which they drew 1-1. That would mean goalscorer Martin Paterson, who came on as a substitute for Pericard, starting the game.

Stoke could line up: Steve Simonsen, Andy Griffin, Michael Duberry, Clint Hill, Danny Higginbotham, Luke Chadwick, Darel Russell, Peter Sweeney, Dave Brammer, Mamady Sidibe, Martin Paterson. Subs from: Robert Duggan, Carl Hoefkens, Adam Rooney, Jeff Whitley, Ricardo Fuller, Carl Dickinson.

Click HERE to see the full Stoke squad.

The big question for Burnley will be whether Gifton Noel-Williams starts against his old club following his midweek hat trick. He came on for the injured Alan Mahon with the Clarets 2-0 down and much could rest on the fitness of Mahon who will face a late test ahead of the game.

Also out are Danny Coyne, although the goalkeeper is getting closer and closer to full fitness, and Garreth O'Connor who has been suffering recently from illness.

But back to Gifton, and should Mahon be ruled out then we can expect the same side that played most of the last hour on Tuesday, and maybe if Mahon is fit we could see Steve Jones left out with Gifton getting the nod to partner Andy Gray.

Burnley could line up: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Micah Hyde, Alan Mahon, Andy Gray, Gifton Noel-Williams. Subs from: Frank Sinclair, Stephen Foster, Chris McCann, Steve Jones, Kyle Lafferty, Graham Branch, John Spicer.

We hadn't lost a league game at the Windy City before, our only defeat there had been in the League Cup when those present got a treat with Marco Gentile's only Burnley appearance.

But we went there last season having lost the previous five games and not scored in the last four. We were boosted with two new loan signings, right back Phil Bardsley from Manchester United and striker Andy Gray who had moved from Sunderland with a permanent deal agreed for the summer.

They both played but it was defeat number six, although the performance was considerably better than the previous two away games at Coventry and Derby. Just a Paul Gallagher goal split the teams and we had a goal disallowed in the second half.

The teams were;

Stoke: Steve Simonsen, Carl Hoefkens, Michael Duberry, Clint Hill, Marlon Broomes (Lewis Buxton 45), Darel Russell (Luke Chadwick 62), Josip Skoko, Dave Brammer, Paul Gallagher, Mamady Sidibe, Sammy Bangoura (Hans Sigurdsson 80). Subs not used: Ed de Goey, Junior.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Phil Bardsley, Wayne Thomas, Michael Duff, Jon Harley, Garreth O'Connor (Wade Elliott 64), James O'Connor, Chris McCann (Gifton Noel-Williams 79), Graham Branch (John Spicer 85), Michael Ricketts, Andy Gray. Subs not used: Danny Karbassiyoon, Kyle Lafferty.

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	.

Click HERE to see more results against Stoke since our first meeting in the inaugral league season of 1888/89.