Dave does a threesome on Fulham, Liverpool & Villa.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Dave Thornley decides to do a “threesome” as he analyses the Fulham, Liverpool, and Aston Villa festive fixtures.

Hope you have all had an enjoyable Christmas and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year, one in which Burnley’s Premier League season takes a long overdue upturn.

The Clarets’ Christmas fixtures have been a mixed bag, starting off with a welcome 2-0 win at Craven Cottage against Fulham, courtesy of two outstanding finishes from Wilson Odobert and Sander Berge. Doubly welcome was the clean sheet.

Subsequent matches have not gone quite so well; the Boxing Day home fixture against Liverpool was always going to be tough, and the visitors dominated the first half, taking an early lead through Darwin Nunez. Sometimes you must acknowledge through gritted teeth the skill involved in a goal scored against your team. Nunez’s precise finish from long range was one such instance.

Despite the pressure Burnley were obliged to absorb, it was encouraging that they showed the obstinacy in defence to prevent any further first half losses.

Liverpool did find the back of the Burnley net early in the second half, but Mo Salah was found to have strayed into an offside position, helped by a gentle nudge from Jordan Bayer, directly into James Trafford’s line of sight and causing Harvey Elliot’s shot to be disallowed following scrutiny from VAR.

The let-off served to inspire Burnley and for long periods of the second half they had their illustrious visitors rattled. Headers from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Sander Berge and Jacob Brunn Larsen shooting narrowly wide were the best of the chances and all three could, probably should, have been scored, before Diogo Jota sealed the win for the Reds in stoppage time.

So, to Villa Park for Saturday afternoon’s appointment with high-flying Aston Villa a match in which Burnley acquitted themselves well but found themselves on the wrong end of several decisions which, had they been adjudicated differently, would have garnered a much-needed point.

Sander Berge’s dismissal for two innocuous yellow cards were bad enough, but the last-minute penalty awarded for the most theatrical of dives by Villa’s Duran was by far the most costly and unjust. The resulting penalty was converted via the crossbar by Douglas Luiz and Villa won the match 3-2.

Lyle Foster had a breakaway goal ruled out for an offside so slender as to be virtually undetectable and a handball which prevented Foster from advancing once again on the Villa goal was brushed aside.

In between times, Villa goals from Bailey and Diaby were equalised by Zeki Amdouni’s close range volley and Foster breaking away once again to slot the ball past Martinez.

The general improvement in Burnley’s performance levels has not, however, yielded points in sufficient number to keep Burnley afloat and with the season past the halfway mark, it would take a remarkable, perhaps unprecedented volte-face to keep Burnley in the Premier League.

We once had a manager who dared Clarets fans to dream, we now need the current incumbent to awaken us from a relegation inspired nightmare.

Next up for the Clarets is a very tricky third round FA cup tie away to Tottenham Hotspur. It will be interesting to see how much importance Vincent Kompany places on staying in the draw for the fourth round. (TEC).

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[sinkov]

Tricky decision for Vinni, does he give his fringe players a run out or go with his regulars ? I think we might see a few changes, the priority seems to be developing players over PL survival, so why would we change that policy for the FA Cup ?