Paterson out tonight and Duff a doubt

Last updated : 31 July 2012 By Tony Scholes
Martin Paterson misses out with a knock to the knee

Pato has taken a knock to his knee and as a precaution will not feature tonight, and it could be the same for Michael Duff who has a minor calf strain.

Manager Eddie Howe, who is also without Marvin Bartley, is taking no chances as the Clarets build towards the opening day of the season two weeks on Saturday.

"Tonight we will tweak things and some players will get longer than others," he said. "We need to build up their fitness now in preparation to the season, so the players need to get 90 minutes under their belt at some stage. I'm not saying they will be there after tonight, but there will be a build-up."

Regarding the injury situation, he added: "We have lost Marvin Bartley, as everyone knows and Martin Paterson has a slight problem with his knee, so hopefully he will just be out for a couple of days.

"Michael has a little calf problem too that has affected him for a couple of days, but these are just the little niggles that you pick up at this stage of the season. They are nothing serious, but I don't think Martin will take part tonight, just as a precaution. Other than that, I think we are pretty much at full strength."

Howe is also not concerned at the standard of the opposition. "To be honest, the strength of opposition doesn't come much into my thinking. It's about us and what we do," he said. 

"So as much as you need a team to play against, and we are really looking forward to tonight's game, I will be looking at my players to do certain things right and I am looking for us to control the game, have a monopoly on possession and hopefully put in a good performance.

"We've done a lot of tactical work and style and principles of play and I want to see that coming out."

With Paterson and Duff unlikely to feature, Burnley will select from the following.

Lee Grant, Brian Jensen, Jon Stewart, Kieran Trippier, Luke O'Neill, David Edgar, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Danny Lafferty, Joseph Mills, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Steve Hewitt, Ross Wallace, Junior Stanislas, George Porter, Keith Treacy, Alex MacDonald, Charlie Austin, Danny Ings.