Official StokeMAD Match preview: Burnley v Stoke

Last updated : 10 March 2010 By Dan Buxton

The Potters travel to Burnley in a game that sees a team who have been on a good run, going eleven games unbeaten before recent defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal, against a team that is in severe need of a win to address their plummet towards the Championship.

Stoke proudly sit 11th in the Premier League and look to have secured themselves another year of Premier League football. Burnley are second from bottom and have lost their impressive early season form and have only one league win since October, losing eight of the last nine games, including the last four conceding thirteen goals.

Stoke have an improved away record this season and have already beaten Tottenham and Portsmouth and have the same away points that they got in the whole of last season. Burnley are on a bad run at present and have lost two of the last three at home, to tarnish was before that an impressive Turf Moor record. 

In the 52 matches between these sides at Burnley, the Potters have won 16, the hosts 25 and eleven have been drawn. The last time the pair clashed at Turf Moor, in 2007, saw the game end 0-0. Burnley have not scored a home goal against the Potters in the last two games. Overall the Clarets have won 36 times to the Potters 45.

Howard Webb is taking charge of Wednesdays game. He has refereed Stoke three times this season, the 2-0 home defeat to Manchester United and goalless away draws at Blackburn and Sunderland. Webb was in charge when Burnley were defeated 2-0 by Everton and also the 1-1 home draw with Villa and 2-1 win over West Ham, the Clarets only win since October.

The Met Office report that there will be clear skies, temperatures of a freezing 0 degrees celsius, very good visibility and a no wind at all.

Prediction: The Potters will come out looking to add more misery to the Clarets recent woe and early goals from Ricardo Fuller and David Kitson, back in the side, give a 2-0 half time lead. After Burnley pull a goal back after half time the returning Matthew Etherington seals the win late on.