Will it be a Good Friday for the Clarets?

There's been many words spoken since last Saturday's defeat against Middlesbrough. A win would have seen us within two points of a guaranteed promotion but, with Derby winning, we still need five points to be mathematically certain.

I've found the negativity from some, and it is only a small minority, difficult to understand to be honest and I'll be going to Blackpool tomorrow, and to the three games to follow, with confidence that we will get the points required.

Even before our Watford game a couple of weeks ago I read comments from our former goalkeeper Lee Grant that Derby were now focusing on ensuring a top six finish, and today his team mate Johnny Russell has spoken in a similar fashion.

It's one game at a time says Kieran Trippier

Speaking to the Derby Telegraph, Russell was asked of their chances of overtaking Burnley. He said: "I think we've left it a little bit too late. We've given ourselves a bit too much to do.

"We've let them off at certain times in the season when they've dropped points and we've dropped some silly points as well, but you never know. Nothing is impossible. If they lose their next four games and we win ours, that would do it."

Russell will know our result before Derby play tomorrow evening against Doncaster at the Keepmoat, and Clarets' right-back Kieran Trippier is aware of that.

"We're playing before them on Friday so if we can get the three points that we need, it will put a lot of pressure on them afterwards. Hopefully we can go to Blackpool, get the big three points that we need against our local rivals and put all the pressure on Derby."

Trippier added: "We're in a great position. If we had been asked at the start of the season whether we would take eight points clear with four games to go, we'd obviously take that.

"The gaffer puts it in our minds that it's just one game at a time and Friday is no different. It's another massive game for us, so we will go to Blackpool, hopefully keep a clean sheet and get the three points we need."

The Burnley team just didn't look right recently with no Trippier in there. We're used to him being there game after game so to have him miss five games through injury was a bit of a shock.

Chris Baird came in and did really well but we all saw last week how important Trippier is for us going forward after he returned with another impressive performance.

I expect him to be in an unchanged team tomorrow so we should line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Scott Arfield, Dean Marney, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes. Subs from: Alex Cisak, Chris Baird, Kevin Long, Danny Lafferty, David Edgar, Brian Stock, Ross Wallace, Junior Stanislas, Keith Treacy.

What a strange season it's been for Blackpool. August saw manager Paul Ince become the Championship's first manager of the month in the 2013/14 season. They were top at the end of the month and were still in the top four at the end of November.

Things started to go wrong at the beginning of December. On the 3rd they travelled to Yeovil where they were beaten 1-0 to a John Lundstram goal, but the real defeat came with them having three players sent off.

Kirk Broadfoot went in the 90th minute. He was followed by Ricardo Fuller in the second minute of stoppage time with Gary MacKenzie joining them in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Three days later in a 5-1 hammering at Derby they picked up two more red cards, this time Neal Bishop and Angel Martinez.

There was no one sent off in the next two games, both defeats at home to QPR and then against us at the Turf, but by the turn of the year they had dropped to tenth.

By the end of January they had lost manager Ince, sacked by text after supposedly failing to produce a list of potential signings, and then Tom Ince, the manager's son, left on loan for Crystal Palace.

The last nine games under Ince had yielded just one point, in a draw at home to Leeds, and things haven't improved too much under caretaker Barry Ferguson who remains in charge. In 16 games they've won 10 points.

That sequence of results has not only seen them drop from the top, through the play-off positions and into the bottom half of the table, but left them only two points above Charlton who currently occupy the last relegation position.

Such have been the results that the manager recalled himself to the starting line up last week, the first time he's played since taking over, and has confirmed he will play tomorrow.

For tomorrow's game they have a big doubt over MacKenzie who hasn't trained all week because of an injury. They've put 18-year-old Harrison McGahey, who signed his first professional deal this week, on standby.

He's been training with the squad for the last two months and has already experienced being on the bench for a first team game, the recent draw at QPR.

Definitely ruled out with injury tomorrow are Broadfoot and Fuller, two of those sent off at Yeovil, and Steven Davies although Robert Earnshaw, their most recent signing from Toronto FC, has returned to training after an injury and could be in contention.

Last time out, at Leeds, they lined up: Matt Gilks, Tony McMahon, Gary MacKenzie, Craig Cathcart, Jack Robinson, Chris Basham (Faris Haroun), Barry Ferguson, David Perkins, Neal Bishop, Andy Halliday (Andy Keogh), David Goodwillie. Subs not used: Mark Halstead, Isaiah Osbourne, Tom Barkhuizen, Stephen Dobbie, Elliot Grandin.

Last Time We Were There

When Burnley travelled to Bloomfield Road last season we had beaten Bristol City 3-1. That was only our second win in 13 games. With five games to go we were still in the top half of the table, and three points ahead of Blackpool, so it looked unlikely that we would get dragged into the dog fight at the bottom.

A 1-0 defeat, followed by another by the same scoreline at Leeds, changed all that. We were awful at Leeds but this defeat at Blackpool had little to commend it.

Matt Gilks denied Ross Wallace with a brilliant save

I described it as a horrible match on a horrible pitch which made anything else look very unlikely.

Ben Mee, free from suspension after his red card at Blackburn, was back in the side for Joseph Mills in what was our only change.

A scrappy first half actually came to life in the closing stages and twice we came very close to opening the scoring. First Junior Stanislas hit the post with a shot from outside the box and then Ross Wallace was denied a goal through a brilliant save from Matt Gilks.

Overall we'd edged the first half but then Blackpool took the lead after the break. Ludovic Sylvestre fired in a shot from some distance which flew into the net leaving Lee Grant helpless.

Sean Dyche made a couple of changes to try and get us back into the game but we offered precious little once we'd fallen behind and the game ended at 0-0.

When the manager came over to applaud the fans he was greeted with some appalling abuse by some Burnley supporters situated not too far in front of me. They were suggesting that he had no idea what he was doing and should get out of our club immediately.

Let's hope Dyche is coming over to applaud the fans tomorrow, this time with us having won the three points.

The teams last season were;

Blackpool: Matt Gilks, Alex Baptiste, Kirk Broadfoot, Gary McKenzie, Stephen Crainey, Barry Ferguson, Ludovic Sylvestre (Craig Cathcart), Chris Basham, Matt Phillips (Neal Eardley), Nathan Delfouneso (Gary Taylor-Fletcher), Tom Ince. Subs not used: Mark Halstead, Elliott Grandin, Martinez, Matt Derbyshire.

Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Ross Wallace (Martin Paterson 75), Dean Marney (Danny Ings 87), Chris McCann, Junior Stanislas (David Edgar 75), Sam Vokes, Charlie Austin. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Danny Lafferty, Marvin Bartley, Keith Treacy.

Previous Games against Blackpool

Click HERE to see all previous results against Blackpool