West Bromwich Albion vs Burnley

16th October

Slaven Bilić’s Baggies return to The Hawthorns following the conclusion of the international break as they look for their first Premier League win of the season against Burnley on Monday evening (ko 5.30pm).

Burnley

Their last time out

During their fourth successive term in England’s top flight last year, the Clarets enjoyed a solid campaign as they finished in 10th spot.

After the new year, Burnley defeated Leicester City and Manchester United in quick succession towards the end of January and went on to lose just two of their remaining 14 league games. Unfortunately their journey in domestic tournaments was cut short in the early stages of the EFL and FA Cup.

This season, they have lost all three league games they have played. In their last outing they were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle United. The Magpies took the lead through Allan Saint-Maximin, but Ashley Westwood struck level for Burnley just after the hour mark. However, two goals from Callum Wilson on Tyneside left the away side still searching for their first league point of the season.

In the dugout

Manager Sean Dyche holds high status amongst the Clarets fanbase after guiding them back to the Premier League in 2014 following a four-year absence.

The former defender agreed a deal to become Burnley boss in September 2012 and after guiding them to a 11th placed finish in his first term, the 49-year-old secured automatic promotion during his second year as the Clarets returned to England’s elite tier.

Although they endured a swift return to the Championship following relegation in their first year, Dyche’s side responded emphatically by winning the division to come straight back up and since returning in 2016, Burnley have qualified for the qualifying stages of the Europa League and secured two top-10 finishes over four seasons.

One to watch

Dwight McNeil continues to thrive as one of Burnley’s most promising and creative players.

A Burnley academy graduate, McNeil featured once in the 2017/18 campaign before his breakthrough in the first team came in the 2018/19 season, where he made 21 appearances, netting three goals and claiming five assists.

Last season the England youth international completed 38 outings claiming two goals and six assists. The 20-year-old has started all of Burnley’s matches so far this season.

Our last meeting

Albion’s last memorable clash with the Clarets came in November 2016 where the Baggies secured a thumping 4-0 victory over Dyche’s men thanks to strikes from Matt Phillips, James Morrison, Darren Fletcher and Salomon Rondon.

Stats

Albion

The Baggies have lost just one of their last 10 home encounters with Burnley.
Gaffer Slaven Bilić is unbeaten in the three matches he’s managed against Sean Dyche’s Clarets (W2 and D1).
This clash at The Hawthorns historically promises goals with Albion netting two or more in six of their last seven on home soil against Burnley.

Burnley

Dyche's men have conceded seven goals during both of their Premier League away matches so far this season.
The Clarets have notched three goals in two games despite losing both.
Ashley Barnes netted in the last fixture between the two sides in 2018 and has three direct goal involvements in his last six PL games against the Baggies, but has won just one of those.

Head to head

	Albion wins	Draw	Burnley wins
League	55	28	45
FA Cup	1	1	1
Total	56	29	46

Our one to watch

Matheus Pereira will be keen to continue his attacking success when the Clarets visit The Hawthorns on Monday evening.

Prior to a disappointing defeat against Southampton last time out, the creative Brazilian had three direct goal involvements in three matches - scoring a sublime free-kick against Everton as well as an assist before setting up Callum Robinson’s opener against Chelsea in Albion’s last home match.

After the Saints limited the Brazilian’s influence in his last Premier League match, the 24-year-old will be looking to make a positive impact against a Burnley side who are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league this season.

Read all about it

An exclusive interview with Callum Robinson features in the latest edition of Albion News, with all the usual from Slav and Jake as well as reminiscing on fond memories of The Hawthorns as we continue celebrating 120 years of history at the shrine. Pick up Monday's copy here or find out more about this season's editions here.

Follow the game

Gez Mulholland will be joined by once midfield-now-microphone maestro Andy Johnson to provide proudly partisan commentary and an expert insight for WBA Radio.

To listen live to Baggies-biased commentary on WBA Radio for free for every home and away match during the 2020/21 season all you have to do is sign up for a free My Albion account.

If you haven't already you can create your My Albion account here. Click Create Account or register quickly with your Facebook or Google account.

Live commentary starts from 15 minutes before kick-off and will be accessible through the live match centre or WBA TV.

If you have any issues registering or accessing your My Albion account please contact myalbion@wbafc.co.uk.

19th October

Albion and Burnley cancelled each other out with a 0-0 draw in Monday evening’s Premier League fixture at The Hawthorns.

Both teams had guilt-edged opportunities to win it, with Karlan Grant even denied a debut goal after being flagged for offside when he headed home during the first-half, but neither the Baggies nor the Tykes could find that elusive goal in the end.

The result leaves Albion on two points from four games heading into next week’s trip to Brighton.

Slaven Bilić opted to make six changes to the side who were defeated at Southampton, with Branislav Ivanović, Conor Gallagher, Filip Krovinović and Karlan Grant earning their Premier League debuts for Albion and Ahmed Hegazi and Darnell Furlong also coming into the XI.

And it was the much-changed Baggies that created the opening few chances; Krovinović saw an early effort deflected narrowly wide, Grant blasted off-target and Matheus Pereira shot straight at Nick Pope.

Burnley then tested Sam Johnstone for the first time, the goalkeeper reacting well to tip Ashley Barnes’ half-volley past the post, before Albion actually had the ball in the net - Grant guiding Grady Diangana’s cross home but looking across to see the assistant referee’s flag in the air. A lengthy look from VAR confirmed that the Baggies’ new front man was marginally offside so the sides went into the break goalless.

Johnstone comfortably saved a tame Chris Wood header and Gudmundsson’s low free-kick as the visitors made a good start to the second period, though Albion then went incredibly close to breaking the deadlock on the hour mark.

Diangana showed great skill to beat his man and find some space in the area to shoot, and a mixture of Pope and several Burnley defenders showed equally great bravery to block his effort and Ivanović’s powerful rebound.

The Baggies were given a huge let-off midway through the half when Wood skimmed the top of the crossbar, and soon after Johnstone had to make a fantastic save to deny Barnes when he looked set to score.

Pereira nearly netted for Albion with 12 minutes to go, his volley from Townsend’s excellent cross superbly denied by Pope, and substitute Sawyers curled one over as the match looked set to be the first without a goal in the top flight this season.

Both sides continued to press in the closing stages, but they had to settle for a point as Albion recorded successive home draws in the league.

Albion: Johnstone, Furlong, Ivanović, Hegazi, Townsend; Gallagher, Livermore, Krovinović (Sawyers 79); Pereira (Phillips 88), Grant (Robinson 73), Diangana.

Substitutes: Button, O’Shea, Bartley, Ajayi.

Monday 19th October 2020 - 17:30