Friday, February 21, 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Bournemouth-Burnley Preview

Whilst Burnley look to move into the top half of the Premier League table, Bournemouth must do all they can to avoid a spot in the drop zone.

Burnley aim to extend their Premier League unbeaten run to five games by doing the season double over the Cherries on Saturday at Turf Moor.

The Clarets (10-4-12) enter this weekend 11th in the league table, but tied on 34 points with 10th-place Arsenal. A victory on Saturday and some good fortune elsewhere around the top-flight could have Burnley sitting eighth by the time the action has concluded.

"It's still too early to look at the table, really," Burnley keeper Nick Pope told the club's official website. "When you get into April with five or six games left, then you can really see from there where you might be able to finish. But, it's an exciting time to be around and see where the season could go."

It's gone quite well of late for the Clarets, who have outscored their opponents 6-2 during a stretch that reached 3-1-0 after a 2-1 victory at Southampton last Saturday. Ashley Westwood needed just two minutes to open the scoring and Matej Vydra broke the 1-all tie in the 60th for Burnley.

The four-match surge without a defeat ties the longest such stretch this season in the league for the Clarets, who credit maintaining their collective confidence for the good times.

"When you're on a good run and confidence is high, you want to protect that and look after it," Pope said. "Confidence is a hard thing to get hold of. It's easy to speak about when you've got it, but if it was easy to get hold of or that easy to get back, everyone would have it and it would be a level playing field.

"But it's not like that. There's no magic formula. You've got to earn it through hard work and persistence to grapple it back."

Burnley should boast plenty of confidence whilst trying for a fourth straight Premier League victory over Bournemouth (7-5-14), who have been outscored 8-1 over the previous three meetings. Westwood assisted on Jay Rodriguez's memorable winner in the 89th minute of the Clarets' 1-0 road triumph over Bournemouth on Dec. 21.

The Cherries are currently 16th in the table, two spots and two points from the relegation zone. They had won two in a row before falling 2-1 at Sheffield United on Feb. 9. Callum Wilson scored his seventh of the season in the 13th minute for Bournemouth, but Billy Sharp leveled the match just before half and the eventual Sheffield winner came via John Lundstram in the 84th.

It was a fourth consecutive league road defeat for the Cherries, who have just one win over their last 10 top-flight contests away from home. Wilson, meanwhile, has just one goal in six career Premier League games versus Burnley.

Four of Rodriguez's seven goals over all competition have come in the top-flight. However, he has just one in seven within the league since scoring at Bournemouth in December.

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