Wed 27 October 2021, 09:00
Tottenham HotspurWe make the trip north to Burnley on Wednesday night in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup (7.45pm kick-off).
Here in the Notebook, take a look at all the key points of note ahead of the game…
1 - Winless Clarets
So far this campaign, Burnley have yet to win a league game. After nine matches in the competition, the Clarets have drawn four times and lost five – they currently sit in the relegation places, 18th, with four points. In their four league outings at Turf Moor thus far, they’ve picked up two points and scored just twice.
2 - Carabao Cup journeys
Entering the competition in round two, Burnley progressed to the third round after edging Premier League rivals Newcastle United on penalties in August, having drawn 0-0 in normal time at St James’ Park. They then defeated League Two Rochdale 4-1 at Turf Moor a month later to set up our fourth round tie.
We booked our place in round four with a 3-2 penalty shootout victory over Wolves back in September. Having drawn 2-2 in normal time at Molineux with Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane’s first-half strikes being cancelled out by Leander Dendoncker and Daniel Podence, Kane, Sergio Regulion and Bryan Gil then converted their penalties in the shootout while Ruben Neves, Dendocker and Conor Coady all failed to convert for the hosts.
3 - Beating Burnley
Our recent record against the Clarets is a strong one. In our last 14 encounters with the Clarets, we have lost just once and, in that run, we have been victorious in nine of those games.
4 - Last visit to Turf Moor
We took all three points on our last trip to Burnley as we defeated the Clarets 1-0 in October, 2020. In a tightly-fought contest in Lancashire, a well-worked corner saw Harry Kane head Erik Lamela’s cross into the path of Heung-Min Son, who nodded home the decisive goal with 14 minutes remaining.
5 - Harry and Sonny
Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane seem to enjoy facing Burnley. Sonny for starters has been involved in five goals (two scored, three assists) against the Clarets in his last three games against them, including the winner on our aforementioned last trip to Turf Moor. Harry, meanwhile, has been involved in 10 goals in his last six appearances against Sean Dyche’s men, scoring seven and assisting three. He has been involved in at least one goal in each of those encounters.
6 - Facing Burnley in the League Cup
We have met our Lancashire opponents in five League Cup ties, all coming between January, 1983, and January, 2009 – interestingly, we didn’t encounter Burnley in any other competition during this period. Of those meetings, the honours were split fairly evenly as we progressed three times while the Clarets came out on top twice.
7 - Cornet shining
In the summer, Burnley made a significant investment with the signing of Maxwel Cornet from Lyon – and the striker has been in fine form since making his move to England. Since making his Premier League debut against Arsenal in September, the striker has scored three goals in as many games, including a brace away at Southampton last time out. The Ivory Coast international is a former Lyon team-mate of Tanguy Ndombele.
8 - Team news
Nuno will have decisions to make on his starting XI to face Burnley on Wednesday night, but he has confirmed that the squad travelling to Lancashire will largely comprise of those who travelled to West Ham United on Sunday, while Matt Doherty will make a return to the squad after recovering from injury.
“Basically, yes (it will be the same matchday squad as against West Ham), but we have players that we need, players that are working hard, maybe with the expectation that they will have more minutes, the expectation that they deserve more minutes,” Nuno said. “But it’s up to us to manage all these situations individually, at the same time looking at which are the best partnerships for what we want to be as a team.”
9 - Defensive strengths
While we have been unable to keep a clean sheet in all competitions since August, we will take heart from our recent record of shutouts against Burnley. In our last 11 games against the Clarets, we have kept seven clean sheets, with four of those coming at Turf Moor.
10 - Nuno on Burnley
Despite back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Vitesse and West Ham United, Nuno Espirito Santo has been buoyed by improvements he has seen in our performances – and he is hoping they can be built on at Turf Moor.
“Focussing only on this match, we’re going to face a tough opponent, we know their characteristics – they are very physical, set pieces, aggressive – but at the same time I think we are improving our game,” he explained. “The possession has been much better, the dynamics have been much better, but they are details that we only can achieve during the competition, so that’s why I tell you it’s very important for us to improve in the match, doing the things that we want, the things that we prepare and putting it on the pitch.”
