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We've two away matches next week but they are sandwiched between home games against sides who were playing their football in the Premiership last season and thus are amongst the most fortunate clubs in our division benefiting from the parachute payments.
Watford looked to be heading straight back up after a good start to the season and although their season never came off the rails they did have something of a wobble at home between November and January when they picked up just three points from eight games at Vicarage Road.
It's almost Burnley like and whilst the two of us have been anything but perfect at home we lead the division on away results with Watford the only side with more points than us on their travels.
They have lost just three times away from home - at Leicester, Barnsley and Preston - and with ten wins have won no fewer than 34 of their 60 points away from home. Those 60 points have currently got them into third place in the table just two points behind current leaders Stoke City.
They've drawn their last two games. Two weeks ago they came from two behind to earn a point at Charlton with two goals in two minutes and last week drew at home with Preston in a game where manager Adrian Boothroyd was far from happy with the performance of referee Tony Bates.
It is the start of a testing two weeks for the Clarets. After Watford we face Hull (8th), Stoke (top), and Charlton (6th) before meeting tenth place Wolves at home in a couple of weeks.
Much has been said of this difficult period but whether a brilliant, good, or not so good two weeks it will not determine our season, although similar results to the ones we got from them earlier in the season (Hull excepted) would be just about perfect.
Boothroyd will still be without Damien Francis who has a knee injury but the good news for the Watford boss is that his captain Jay DeMerit is fit again after a groin injury and Collins John is now free of injury and set to be involved for the first time since his loan move from Fulham.
DeMerit came on as a late sub in last week's draw against Preston but will almost certainly be back in the starting line up alongside Danny Shittu at the back. That will see January signing Leigh Bromby, not too long ago a target for the Clarets, moving to right back at the expense of Adrian Mariappa.
John however will probably have to settle for a place on the bench but is expected to play a part and finally make his Watford debut.
Their expected team is: Richard Lee, Leigh Bromby, Jay DeMerit, Danny Shittu, Matt Sadler, Tommy Smith, John Eustace, John-Jo O'Toole, Jobi McAnuff, Darius Henderson, Nathan Ellington. Subs from: Jordan Stewart, Lee Williamson, Adrian Mariappa, Lionel Ainsworth Steven Kabba, Collins John.
With no further reported injuries for the Clarets it means Owen Coyle has two extra players in his squad compared to Tuesday with the return of both Stanislav Varga (illness) and Andrew Cole (achilles).
Varga is likely to have to sit on the bench given that we kept a clean sheet on Tuesday against Coventry, and with Clarke Carlisle in such good form, but surely if fully fit there will be a starting place for Cole who hit a hat trick at QPR in his last game.
Any reintroduction of Cole will surely see the Clarets revert to a 4-4-2 system and with Ade Akinbiyi up front. Cole certainly looked a much better player in his two starts once Ade had come off the bench.
There's been good news this week on long term injury victims Bes Berisha, Michael Duff and Alan Mahon. Bes took part in last Sunday's Great North West Half Marathon in Blackpool as part of his rehabilitation whilst Duff played in the reserves.
Both of them are still some time away from first team action although Mahon should be back sooner after playing an hour in the reserves, although he's not expected to be part of today's squad.
Burnley's team could be: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Kyle Lafferty, Ade Akinbiyi, Andrew Cole. Subs from: Gabor Kiraly, Stanislav Varga, David Unsworth, Mark Randall, John Spicer, Joey Gudjonsson, Robbie Blake.
There was good news for the Clarets ahead of the game the last time we met Watford at home. Both Graham Branch and Wayne Thomas were fit again after long term injuries and both were named in the squad, Branch starting in place of the out of form Garreth O'Connor.
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Watford should have taken the lead through Matthew Spring but he made a right hash of his shot and Brian Jensen saved easily. Almost immediately another poor mistake, this time from visiting centre half Clarke Carlisle, led to us taking the lead.
Branch benefited from his mistake, got down the left hand side, should have crossed the ball but didn't and was then left with little option but to shoot and beat goalkeeper Foster at his far post.
Our second goal was nothing other than a shocking mistake from the officials. The crowd reacted to goalkeeper Foster carrying the ball out of his box whilst clearing, the assistant heard the crowd and flagged but like the rest of us got it horribly wrong, he was not even close to carrying it over the line. Jon Harley scored from the free kick, although it did deflect off John McGreal, and that was 2-0 at half time.
Marlon King pulled one back with a good finish but we soon extended the lead again. This time it was a penalty and there was no questioning the decision as Branch was brought down by Foster. With O'Connor on the bench it was Harley who stepped up to take his first (and as yet only) Burnley penalty and he made no mistake.
This goal came just after Gifton Noel-Williams had been introduced as a substitute. He played a part in the build up and a major part towards the fourth goal. He played the ball through for James O'Connor who made no mistake.
The 4-1 win took us into Christmas in fifth place and on the back of a run of 28 points from 14 games.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Nathan Dyer (Wade Elliott 89), John Spicer (Gifton Noel-Williams 67), Micah Hyde, James O'Connor, Graham Branch (Wayne Thomas 88), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Garreth O'Connor.
Watford: Ben Foster, Lloyd Doyley, Clarke Carlisle, Malky Mackay, Jordan Stewart, Paul Devlin (Joel Grant 74), Matthew Spring, Gavin Mahon, James Chambers (Jay DeMerit 45), Toumani Diagouraga (Anthony McNamee 45), Marlon King. Subs not used: Alec Chamberlain, Francino Francis.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1994/95 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 11,739 | Eyres |
| . | . | a | 0-2 | 9,297 | . |
1996/97 | 2 | a | 2-2 | 6,450 | Gleghorn Smith |
| . | . | h | 4-1 | 8,269 | Cooke(3) Parkinson |
1997/98 | 2 | a | 0-1 | 11,155 | . |
| . | . | h | 2-0 | 9,551 | Cooke(2) |
2000/01 | 1 | a | 1-0 | 13,653 | Taylor |
| . | . | h | 2-0 | 18,283 | Payton Mullin |
2002/03 | 1 | a | 1-2 | 13,977 | Taylor |
| . | FAC | a | 0-2 | 20,336 | . |
| . | 1 | h | 4-7 | 10,208 | Taylor(3) Davis |
2003/04 | 1 | a | 1-1 | 11,573 | Chadwick |
| . | . | h | 2-3 | 11,413 | McGregor Adebola |
2004/05 | C | a | 1-0 | 12,043 | Moore |
| . | . | h | 3-1 | 11,507 | Bowditch O'Connor Valois |
2005/06 | C | a | 1-3 | 16,802 | G O'Connor(pen) |
| . | . | h | 4-1 | 13,815 | Branch Harley(2 1pen) J O'Connor |
2007/08 | C | a | 2-1 | 15,021 | Gray Gudjonsson |