Voices on the game... Burnley

How might Burnley line up at Turf Moor on Saturday? Who might their main threats be? Here are the ‘Voices on the game’ with all the key opinions ahead of our 5.30pm kick-off at Turf Moor...

Peter Stevenson

Football reporter, as seen on Sky Sports News

“There’s been a peculiar situation where Spurs have been struggling for strikers, but Burnley have just suddenly stumbled across a man who has been sat in reserve for a long time, Matej Vydra. He’s given Burnley’s attacking options another dimension. Sean Dyche likes to play with a settled team but all of a sudden, Ashley Barnes picked up an injury and had to have hernia surgery so Jay Rodriguez came in, then in the Southampton game, Chris Wood suddenly got injured, so effectively he was missing his main front two. But then Vydra came in and all of a sudden a new front two of Rodriguez and Vydra was formed almost by accident. Vydra has that ability to run in behind defences but this week at training will have been interesting because Wood came off the bench at Newcastle last time out, so he’s got at least Wood, Vydra and Rodriguez all eager to start, and Barnes can’t be that far away, so he’s very soon going to have four strikers pushing to start. That gives Dyche a dynamic that he’s not had for a long time, where he’s got four strikers to pick from, all capable of causing problems but in different ways. Spurs therefore won’t know which front two they’re going to face.

“They’ll have to keep an eye on Dwight McNeil too – he glides over the turf and as soon as he gets on the ball, you almost subconsciously see people get on the edge of their seats, he’s that type of player who has the ability to create something out of nothing – and it’ll be a crowd that will be up for it because there’s no fear of relegation now and they’ll be really looking forward to the game. Some fans might even feel that Spurs have become a bit vulnerable, especially after what happened on Wednesday night with extra time and penalties with all the considerations about recovery time.

“If you look at the results, Burnley had a bad spell where they lost four or five on the bounce, but their season has had so many ups and downs and they’ve suddenly picked up – they won at United and rediscovered their home form. If Burnley win on Saturday they’ll move above Spurs so there’s no bigger incentive at the moment. For Burnley to be around that 40-point mark now at the start of March is phenomenal, relegation fears have evaporated and it’s that flip side of the coin now where you’re looking at whether they’re going to finish in a European position.”

Jose Mourinho

Head Coach, Tottenham Hotspur

"Burnley and Sean, Sean and Burnley - you almost confuse them because they have been together for so long. They have their profile, they have better moments, worse moments, good runs, bad runs, they always stick together, they always trust each other and they always finish the season the way they always do, without any problems, being stable in the Premier League. In the first match (a 5-0 win in December) we got them in a period where they were not in a good run of results, plus Kane, Son, Sissoko, they all scored against them. Burnley are in an incredible run of results, six unbeaten, so we get them in a high moment, they didn’t play in midweek, so they are in top condition. We go there to fight and to try to win."

Sean Dyche

Manager, Burnley

“We know we have to give everything. We had a very good result against them (at home) last season and we need to replicate that this weekend. (Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son) are important players but they are still a good team. They are having a sticky patch which can happen. We are in good shape, ready to go and prepped for it. I don’t think our approach will change.”

On our 5-0 home win in the reverse fixture in December, Dyche added: “That can happen in the Premier League. If you catch them on their right day and we have a soft day then you get hurt. You saw that with Liverpool and if it happened to them it can happen to us. But that (5-0) was a long time ago and we are in a different place.”