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This, on paper, is the toughest away game we have left. We've already visited the top two and now face third place Birmingham as we look to end a difficult run of away games. We've failed to pick up a point on the road in any of our last three and the last away points came the week before Christmas at Bristol City.
Owen Coyle has said the season starts now, and there's no doubt that we can't afford too many more slip ups if we want to get back into the top six. We finally ended that run of defeats last week and now will be looking to continue that with a run of good results.
Birmingham, relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season, were always considered one of the favourites to go back up, and that's how it has been so far. They are currently in third place and that's the lowest they've been all season.
We played them at home in October, a game that ended in a 1-1 draw, and since then they've continued their battle with Wolves and Birmingham for those crucial top two places. Since then manager Alex McLeish has made a number of changes to his squad and has made good use of the loan market.
He brought in both Nigel Quashie and Nicky Hunt on emergency loans from West Ham and Bolton, but both have now left St. Andrew's. However, he's added four more loan players during the last transfer window along with a couple of permanent signings.
Those permanent signings are Keith Fahey from St Patrick's Athletic and Robin Shroot from Harrow Borough. The loan signings are Chelsea's Scott Sinclair, a player Burnley were keen to bring in a year ago, Hameur Bouazza from Fulham, West Ham midfielder Lee Bowyer and Carlos Costly who has signed for GKS Belchatow on loan to the end of season for a loan fee £500,000.
Recent results have been mixed although they have been beaten just once in their last six league games. They were though knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round to promotion rivals Wolves.
Expect to see Birmingham up there come the end of the season. Wolves and Reading are now the favourites for automatic promotion but should either of them slip up then Birmingham are the most likely to step in.
Alex McLeish will be without James McFadden (knee injury), Stuart Parnaby (thigh) and Garry O'Connor (groin) for the game. To add to that Stephen Kelly signed for Stoke on loan this week and he will need to be replaced at right back. It is expected Sebastian Larsson will replace him.
Further up the pitch, Gary McSheffrey is fit again but is not expected to be in the squad whilst the last signing of the transfer window Carlos Costly will be in the squad for the first time, probably as a substitute.
Their likely team is: Maik Taylor, Sebastian Larsson, Martin Taylor, Liam Ridgewell, David Murphy, Hameur Bouazza, Lee Bowyer, Lee Carsley, Scott Sinclair, Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome. Subs: Colin Doyle, Keith Fahey, Damien Johnson, Marcus Bent, Carlos Costly.
Illness has affected the Burnley squad and it forced Chris Eagles to miss out on the FA Cup replay win against West Brom. Other players have been hit making it difficult to determine who is and isn't available for this game.
Rhys Williams, who made his debut last week in the win against Charlton, will almost certainly return at right back which will release Graham Alexander to return to the holding role in midfield. Kevin McDonald and Steven Thompson seem the candidates to miss out.
Stephen Jordan remains out with his knee injury so that means Christian Kalvenes will continue at left back.
The team could be: Brian Jensen, Rhys Williams, Michael Duff, Steven Caldwell, Christian Kalvenes, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Kevin McDonald, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Martin Paterson. Subs from: Diego Penny, Clarke Carlisle, Alan Mahon, Joey Gudjonsson, Alex MacDonald, Steven Thompson, Jay Rodriguez, Ade Akinbiyi.
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I'd always suspected we might win two or three when we finally got that first win, but a trip to promotion chasing Birmingham wasn't the easiest of games to come up next.
There was awful news for everyone connected with our club on the morning of the game as news broke of the very sad and untimely death of a true Burnley legend Brian Miller. And the team did Dusty proud by going to Birmingham and winning the game 1-0.
Steve Cotterill named the same side that had won against Plymouth with just one change on the bench, and a significant one, with John Spicer replacing Garreth O'Connor.
It was a first half that saw Birmingham have more of the ball but they only created one really good chance. That fell to Radhi Jaidi but his header from close range missed the target. And yet it was Burnley who came so close to going in at half time with a lead. Steve Jones made a good run down the left before finding Paul McVeigh whose effort was saved by goalkeeper Colin Doyle.
Birmingham had even more of the ball in the second half but it was all getting frantic and we were defending so well that Brian Jensen wasn't being asked to do too much. Both teams made changes but it was Spicer coming on for McVeigh that did the trick.
A bad mistake from Martin Taylor let in Spice but he'd still a lot to do as he made his run towards goal. It was a real one-one-one and as I wished it might be John Deary or Andy Payton I needn't have worried as Spice took it in his stride and gave Doyle no chance.
The celebration right in front of the Burnley fans was something else and I think we knew if we held on that any fears of relegation could finally be banished. We did hold on, and comfortably, to go seven points clear of the bottom three.
The teams were;
Birmingham: Colin Doyle, Stephen Kelly, Radhi Jaidi, Martin Taylor, Mat Sadler (Neil Danns 85), Sebastian Larsson, Damien Johnson, Medhi Nafti (DJ Campbell 58), Gary McSheffrey, Nicklas Bendtner (Cameron Jerome 76), Rowan Vine. Subs not used: Maik Taylor, Fabrice Muamba.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor, Steve Jones (Graham Coughlan 88), Paul McVeigh (John Spicer 67), Andy Gray (Ade Akinbiyi 90). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Chris McCann.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2000/01 | 1 | a | 2-3 | 19,641 | Cox Weller |
| . | . | h | 0-0 | 17,057 | . |
2001/02 | 1 | a | 3-2 | 18,426 | Little(2) I Moore |
| . | . | h | 0-1 | 13,504 | . |
2006/07 | C | h | 1-2 | 12,889 | McCann |
| . | . | a | 1-0 | 28,777 | Spicer |
2008/09 | C | h | 1-1 | 13,809 | McCann |