Burnley v Palace

Turf Moor, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

Burnley have had a decent enough start to the season. One of their problems however, is not too dissimilar to one of ours - they are struggling to keep clean sheets.

They've only managed the one so far this season, and that was against a struggling Sheffield Wednesday side. One noticable difference between Palace and Burnley though, is their ability to score goals.

They are averaging about 2 goals every league game, with the combined strikers' goals hitting a total of ten.

Burnley brought in a few new faces during close season - the most noticable being Gabor Kiraly, who is likely to have one of his better games on Saturday.

Team news

Veteran striker Dougie Freedman is likely to miss out after picking up a groin injury. The Scot pulled up in training, but may recover for a place on the bench.

CLINTON MORRISON, who is in search of his 100th Crystal Palace goal, will replace Freedman if he fails to recover.

Forward Besian Idrizaj has shaken off a toe injury picked up in training to be fit to play.

Midfielder Mark Kennedy (calf) and winger Paul Ifill (hamstring) are both absent, while teen sensation Victor Moses is still sidelined.

Burnley forward Andy Gray is back in contention for a starting role after a overcoming a foot infection and could start alongside Robbie Blake. Midfielder Chris McCann (hamstring) is a doubt.

Quotes

"I think Peter has done a good job there. I keep reading about whether he is still going to be there or not and I don't know why we just don't get off people's backs and let them do the job. "Somewhere a long the line it has been stirred up a little bit, but I like Peter. He is a good, football man and he just needs to be left alone."

"We are never going to have the money to go out and buy someone for £5m on some of the wages that we know are floating around the Championship. "We are going to have to get a team for that money, which means you need players who will make individual sacrifices to be part of a team. "If players don't do that, after being continually told, it means they are not going to be part of that team."

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Burnley - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
6th	6	3	2	1	11

Full league table

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Burnley - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	2	2	1	9	7

Full form table

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Our away record v Burnley

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
15	2	5	8	14	30

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
03/03/2007	League	Burnley	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
26/08/2006	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Burnley
17/04/2006	League	Burnley	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
22/10/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Burnley
10/01/2004	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Burnley

All time results

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One to watch

Andy Gray

Andy Gray is the journeyman footballer. He's spent the majority of his career bouncing around clubs - doing fairly decently goalwise - but never managing to settle.

His most unsucceful season ended with Sunderland being relegated from the Premiership. Gray scored on his debut against Charlton, but did not net any more Premiership goals.

His Championship career is more than solid. Gray is a regular scorer at this level and will cause problems for defences.

Ref watch

T M Kettle

Last meeting

Burnley 1-1 Palace

Saturday March 03 2007

Burnley: Coyne, Duff, McGreal, Caldwell, Harley, Elliott, James O'Connor, Gudjonsson, McCann (Jones, 80), Gray (Garreth O'Connor, 89), Akinbiyi

Subs not used: Djemba-Djemba, Spicer, Foster

Bookings: Gudjonsson, James O'Connor

Goals: Akinbiyi 38

Palace: Kiraly, Butterfield, Hudson, Cort, Lawrence, Soares, Fletcher, Spence (Watson, 66), Freedman (Grabban, 63), Morrison, Scowcroft

Subs not used: Speroni, Ward, Martin

Bookings: Scowcroft, Watson

Goals: Morrison 15

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