Plymouth v Burnley Preview

Posted on | March 21, 2009 | No Comments

In every preview that’s been written this weekend we seem to say that both teams have something to play for. That again is the case here, as home side Plymouth desperately need points to avoid the drop while Burnley are looking to cement their top six placing.

Plymouth’s relegation woes looked to be over a couple of weeks ago after the Pilgrims recorded some vital wins that pushed them away from the bottom three – temporarily. However, they’ve been back to poor results lately, as back to back 1-0 defeats against Swansea and Norwich has pushed them right back into the relegation mire. As it stands, Paul Sturrock’s men are hovering just two points above the drop zone and with a few teams having games in hand over them, you could say it’s worrying times for the Home Park outfit. However, one thing that will relieve supporters is the fixtures they have left. While they do have a game against promotion chasing Birmingham to play, other than that they have some relatively easy fixtures against some sides who may not have anything to play for in the upcoming weeks.

However, Burnley certainly aren’t one of those sides with nothing to play for and the Clarets know they must keep to their high standards if they are to keep their play off position. Owen Coyle’s men currently sit in 6th place, but with just two points keeping them up in the top six, it’s definitely going to be a tense finale. Recent form should encourage the Turf Moor faithful though and results such as a 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest and a 4-2 win over Crystal Palace in the last couple of weeks shows how lethal they are in front of goal at the moment. Their remaining fixtures make for interesting reading though, with Burnley having to play the likes of Cardiff, Sheffield United and Bristol City – three sides who are also competing for the play offs.

There’s not much team news to report for these two and home side Plymouth have no new concerns. With his side struggling for goals in recent weeks Paul Sturrock may decide to thrown Jermaine Easter back into the fold after his injury, but it’s thought that he’ll give the Welsh international more time to recover. As for Burnley, they may face something of a striker crisis. Martin Paterson is a doubt with a hamstring problem, while Steve Thompson is definitely out through an ankle ligament problem. Other than that, the Clarets have no other problems though.

Burnley are in fantastic form at the moment and despite being away from home, we see them taking all the points here. Plymouth will make it hard, as they always do, but we see the visitors just nicking this with a 2-1 win.

Related posts:

1. Burnley v Plymouth Preview
2. Arsenal vs Plymouth preview- FA Cup
3. QPR v Plymouth Preview
4. Sheffield Wednesday v Plymouth Preview
5. Coventry v Plymouth Preview

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