Where's Michael Ricketts?

He's not in the squad, and although Southend United have said nothing it does look as though Ricketts is looking for yet another club after having his contract cancelled, according to some for carrying too much weight. Maybe he could get a place at Hull, they have a striker a lot bigger than Ricketts.

Ricketts was one of a number of summer signings for manager Steve Tilson, and if it has been a mistake then it is one of very few the boss has made since taking over in November 2003. He took over a side hovering dangerously close to the bottom of the Football League but by the end of the season had moved them into calmer waters.

Then came the play off win against Lincoln the following year, and a year on from that the League One Championship which gave them football at what is now Championship level for the first time since the 1996/97 season. That was when the decline set in, two successive bottom places, until Tilson became manager and the renaissance over the last two to three years.

Back to Ricketts, or really back to the summer signings and there were eight of them in all with our former loan striker the one that was the highest profile generating the most interest, presumably because of him winning two England caps on the same night, his first and his last.

By the time he signed there had already been three additions to the squad, Yeovil goalkeeper Steve Collis, Simon Francis the Sheffield United defender who had somewhat strangely been linked with a move to Burnley and then experienced Motherwell defender Steven Hammell.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce was the next to sign up from Rotherham and that was it until four days before the start of the season when Blackpool's former Everton defender Peter Clarke, Gary Hooper a midfielder from Grays Athletic, and strikers Billy Paynter and Matt Harrold from Hull and Yeovil all signed.

They are enjoying a run in the Carling Cup, having beaten Bournemouth and Brighton they travel to Leeds in the next round. In the league they are currently next to bottom and have recorded wins against Stoke and Sunderland at Roots Hall.

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

Leading scorer for them just now is Freddy Eastwood, and that's hardly a surprise. Since singing for Southend in November 2004 he's scored no fewer than 43 goals in 80 league appearances – now wonder he's been the subject of bids in excess of a million.

Whilst Southend look to get away from the bottom, the Clarets will be looking for their first back to back home wins since we beat Watford and Stoke in December of last year.

Steve Tilson has warned his players they can expect a tough game at the Turf, and has said that we are the best team he's seen in the Championship this season, but he's pleased with the commitment being shown by his players.

Defender Efe Sodje is rated doubtful, a player very unpopular at Turf Moor. I think we all recall him getting Andy Cooke sent off playing for the pub team at Moss Rose a few years ago. He has an achilles strain and former Leicester and Manchester City defender Spencer Prior is once again expected to deputise if he doesn't make it.

Another former Manchester City player, striker Lee Bradbury, is definitely ruled out. He has a hip and thigh injury and is about a week away from being fit enough to play. There is some good news for Tilson, with Che Wilson back and available after a calf strain that has ruled him out all season so far.

They are expected to line up: Darryl Flahavan, Simon Francis, Spencer Prior, Adam Barrett, Steven Hammell, Lewis Hunt, Luke Guttridge, Kevin Maher, Mark Gower, Matt Harrold, Freddy Eastwood. Subs from: Steve Collis, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Peter Clarke, Gary Hooper, Billy Paynter, Che Wilson.

Click HERE to see the full Southend squad.

It's a clean bill of health for Burnley, and everyone is again available other than Danny Coyne and the suspended Wayne Thomas who tonight misses game number four. It is probably an easy guess to suggest that Steve Cotterill will name the same side that has beaten Norwich and Hull in the last two games.

The Burnley team should be: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Micah Hyde, Steve Jones, Andy Gray, Gifton Noel-Williams. Subs: Stephen Foster, Chris McCann, Garreth O'Connor, Alan Mahon, Kyle Lafferty.

The last time Burnley and Southend met at Turf Moor was back in the 1997/98 season. Ahead of the game, Southend were hovering just above the drop zone, only above Brentford on goal difference. Burnley on the other hand were three points and three places worse off, sat bottom with 24 points from 27 games. It was fair to say this was a game we really needed to win.

We did win it, and it proved to be a vital win with us staying up at the end of the season and Southend going down after they finished the season with just two points from the last seven games.

In January, just one goal was enough to win it, and it was a special goal and something that was to be repeated countless times over the next three years and more. Take a look at the result and it will say Burnley 1 (Payton) Southend 0, and that was the very first time Payts scored for the Clarets in what was his first home game as a Claret.

It came following a move down the right hand side, the ball was played inside the full back for the overlapping Chris Brass whose low cross was met by Payton and he made no mistake from close range. A Payton goal, a Payton winning goal, something that we were set to get used to.

The win didn't quite lift us off the bottom, but it did drop Southend into the bottom three from and they were to remain there for the rest of the season.

The teams were;

Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Chris Brass (Michael Williams), Gerry Harrison, Neil Moore, Mark Winstanley, Glen Little, Mark Ford, Paul Weller (Mark Robertson), Damian Matthew, Chris Waddle, Andy Payton. Sub not used: Jamie Hoyland.

Southend: Neville Southall, Julian Hails, Mark Stimson, Regis Coulbault (Nathan Jones), Richard Jobson, Keith Dublin, Kevin Maher, Phil Gridelet, Andy Rammell (Jeroen Boere), Andy Thomson, Adrian Clarke. Sub not used: Andy Harris.