We will fight for evermore because of
It might not be Boxing Day but it is December and our visitors to Turf Moor tonight are Newcastle United and for many supporters of both clubs it will be a first opportunity to see these two teams in competitive action against each other.
We haven't been in the same league since the 1982/83 season and the only occasion the two sides have met since was in a home friendly in 2000 which we lost 1-0.
And so we welcome them back to Turf Moor for what is the only confirmed midweek home game of the season, if you exclude television forcing a weekend game to a Monday, with the Clarets looking to extend our current unbeaten run to four games.
 |
| Jason Shackell loves working for Sean Dyche |
The two wins and a draw have certainly given everyone a lift, but, as we found out on Saturday with the visit of Villa, there are no easy games in this league and we'll still go in as second favourites.
Captain Jason Shackell has been speaking to the media ahead of this game, Sean Dyche's 100th in all competitions. Shackell has played in all 99 to date. He's missed only four games since signing for us in the summer of 2012, two in the league and two in the Capital One Cup.
The last game Shackell missed was the 3-3 home draw against Sheff Wed , Eddie Howe's last home game in charge. Since then he has not only played in every game but played the full 90 minutes in every game.
Shackell said of his boss: "To put it simply, he's probably the best manager I've worked with. He breeds confidence, he's a great man-manager and he wants you to play. Of course, he liked to find a balance of play, but he'll never have a go at you for trying to do the right things and pass the ball.
"He's great to work with day in, day out. I definitely feel I've improved under him as we all have really. He sets out very clearly what he expects from everybody in every position and whoever steps into the team, they know exactly what to do."
He added: "I've had a good run of games personally. I've been fortunate as I haven't been injured too many times and it's nice to be picked for quite a few games consecutively. I'm delighted and I love working under the gaffer, so hopefully I'm looking forward to another 100 games."
Shackell will, barring any last minute catastrophe, make his 100th appearance under Dyche's management tonight but it isn't looking just as good for his central defensive partner Michael Duff. The long serving defender was described yesterday as touch and go so I expect Michael Keane to continue tonight after completing his first 90 minutes last Saturday.
Dyche may make changes further up the pitch. Scott Arfield could come back in at the expense of either Michael Kightly or George Boyd and he might consider a recall for Lukas Jutkiewicz up front.
But it could be the same team which was: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Jason Shackell, Stephen Ward, George Boyd, Dean Marney, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes.
If that is the team, the substitutes will be selected from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Kevin Long, Ben Mee, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ross Wallace, Scott Arfield, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell.
Newcastle have had an interesting season so far. They failed to win any of their first seven Premier League games, drawing four and losing three, and after a 4-0 defeat at Southampton they actually dropped into bottom place.
There weren't just calls for manager Alan Pardew's head. It went past that and so bad was it that assistant John Carver got caught up supporting the manager against a group of protesting fans after the Saints game.
Then it all turned round. They beat Leicester 1-0 at home on 18th October with a Gabriel Obertan goal and followed that up with wins against Spurs, Liverpool, West Brom and QPR which hoisted them into fifth place in the league.
A goal from left-back Aaron Cresswell brought it to an end three days ago, that goal giving West Ham a 1-0 win against them at the Boleyn Ground and that means they arrive at Burnley today in ninth place with 19 points from their 13 games.
All the talk though has been of who will and who won't be playing for them tonight, so let's take a look.
Jack Colback and Moussa Sissoko are suspended. Colback picked up yellow card number five at West Ham whilst Sissoko managed to collect two yellow cards in 45 seconds. Both will serve their one match bans tonight.
Goalkeeper Tim Krul, Fabricio Coloccini and Rolando Aarons are all ruled out with injuries and Dutch international Daryl Janmaat (strain) is doubtful. It's also possible that Mike Williamson and Massadio Hairdara could also miss the game.
With Krul out, Rob Elliot would be expected to be in goal. However, he could be missing due to a personal problem and if so it would mean a debut for Hexham born Jak Alnwick between the sticks because Newcastle did not included a recall clause when they loaned Karl Darlow back to Nottingham Forest.
Such is the size and strength of the squad though at St. James' Park, they are bringing a squad of 22 with them. That's almost the number of players we have when everyone is fit and almost matches the number of coaches employed by Harry Redknapp at QPR.
It's impossible to guess the Newcastle team tonight. It won't be the same as that which played West Ham which was: Rob Elliot, Daryl Janmaat, Mike Williamson, Paul Dummett, Massadio Hairdara, Moussa Sissoko, Cheick Tiote, Jack Colback, Yoan Gouffran, Ayoze Perez, Sammy Ameobi. Subs: Jak Alnwick, Vurnon Anita, Adam Armstrong, Emmanuel Riviere, Steven Taylor, Papiss Cisse, Remy Cabella.
Last Time They Were Here
The BBC are reporting that the last time Newcastle played at Turf Moor, Bonnie Tyler was topping the charts with Total Eclipse of the Heart and Deidre Barlow had just dumped Mike Baldwin to stay with husband Ken in Coronation Street.
Other than the clubs we've never played, the likes of Stevenage and Dagenham & Redbridge, we've played every single team currently in the Premier or Football League since our last meeting with Newcastle.
We'd lost the away game 3-0 earlier in the season but they came to Turf Moor during our best spell of the 1982/83 season, certainly in terms of the league, although four days earlier we'd been hammered 5-0 in an FA Cup replay at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday.
Even so, we'd won four and drawn one of the previous five league games since Frank Casper had replaced Brian Miller as manager. Hopes were higher than at any time all season that we could escape the drop.
This proved to be another win with Terry Cochrane, signed from Aston Villa and making his first Burnley start, scoring the only goal of the game 19 minutes from time.
I was fortunate to see the goal. I'd spent some time during the second half in the medical room under the cricket field stand after my dad had been hit with a dart in his forehead, thrown from the Newcastle section of the Longside. He looked a mess when I got there but told him he just needed a double top to finish.
The win saw us remain next to bottom but with three games in hand on most clubs, and knowing that one win from those games would lift us well clear. Sadly, we didn't pick up a solitary point from the next five games and we were eventually relegated.
The teams were;
Burnley: Alan Stevenson, Brian Laws, Willie Donachie, Micky Phelan, Martin Dobson, Brian Flynn, Derek Scott, Trevor Steven, Billy Hamilton, Terry Donovan, Kevin Young.
Newcastle: Kevin Carr, John Anderson, Kenny Wharton, Mick Martin, Jeff Clarke, Steve Carney, Kevin Keegan, Neil McDonald, Imre Varadi, Terry McDermott, Chris Waddle.
Click HERE to see all previous results against Newcastle