Having returned from London SW6 with a point that the League leader’s manager Thomas Tuchel so peevishly dismissed as lucky, Burnley now start back from the international break hosting Crystal Palace. I love this fixture though my last trip to see us face the Eagles was to a wintery Turf Moor in January 2015 and did not end happily. Two up inside the first quarter of an hour with goals from Ben Mee and Danny Ings, the Clarets were pegged back to 2-2 shortly after half-time before Palace pushed on to claim a late winner.

Encounters between these two clubs are rarely drab and there should be no shortage of goals this time around. Palace are proving to be one of the surprise packages in the Premier League this season. Establishing themselves as a top flight side under Roy Hodgson Palace moved swiftly to appoint Patrick Vieira as their new manager in July 2021. Vieira, who was captain of the Arsenal “Invincibles” who won the Premier League in 2003-04 without losing a single league game, has made an impressive start to his management career in England following spells with New York City and Nice.

Crystal Palace are the Premier League draw specialists having finished on level terms six times already this season. However in their last two outings they have racked up successive 2-0 wins away at Manchester City and then at home to Wolves. The Eagles are likely to start at Turf Moor with a front three of Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard. Behind them pulling the strings will be Conor Gallagher who is currently on loan at Selhust Park from parent club Chelsea. Gallagher played for the England Under 21 side that faced the Czech Republic at Turf Moor last week. England won 3-1 and Gallagher impressed with his clever link up play. That performance earned him a late call up to the England squad v San Marino and he was rewarded with his first full cap as a second half substitute replacing Kalvin Phillips.

There were mixed fortunes for the Clarets contingent involved with their national teams during the international break. Chris Wood scored both goals as New Zealand overcame Gambia 2-0 but there was disappointment for Maxwel Cornet as the Ivory Coast lost 1-0 away at Cameroon and miss out on qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Connor Roberts scored for Wales as they defeated Belarus 5-1 and again showed plenty of attacking intent as a 1-1 draw against Belgium secured Wales their place as a seeded team in the World Cup play offs. Roberts may nevertheless have to start on the bench on Saturday as Matt Lawton seems set to continue in the right back berth. Matej Vydra started for the Czech Republic as they beat Estonia 2-0 to finish in third, one place behind Wales in their group, and qualify as an unseeded team in the World Cup play offs.

Tarkowski, Brownhill and Westwood are all currently on 4 yellow cards so a further booking against the Eagles for any of this trio would see them miss Burnley’s next game against Antonio Conte’s Spurs at Turf Moor on Sunday November 28. Match referee this Saturday is Simon Hooper from Swindon with Graham Scott on VAR.

A win against Palace would give Burnley back to back home wins and would probably be enough to lift them out of the bottom three. COYC!