Match preview: Burnley vs Spurs (another disaster or victory?)

 Match preview: Burnley vs Spurs (another disaster or victory?)

After last week's hectic trips (the Arab nation, also known as Newcastle, Vitesse (Holland), Ipswich v Fleetwood United (Portman Road) and then on to the Spammers on Sunday, I am looking forward to a more straightforward journey… even though this is a four-hour drive, then on Saturday, we face the team that Liverpool defeated – away – 5-0. But one step at a time, so let us deal with the Clarets for now.

Burnley and Spurs will aim to push their struggles to one side when we face off in the last-16 of the EFL Cup.

Burnley overcame the Arab nation, Newcastle United, and Rochdale to get this far, while our side knocked out Wolves on penalties.

Burnley haven't won a game this season, but don't let that fool you… it all depends on how much we take this seriously.

Victory over Rochdale signifies Burnley's only win from their last 16 attempts across all competitions at their stadium. While a cup run may represent a small slice of success, they will have bigger fish to fry in the Premier League should the team fail to convert draws into wins. Not since the 2013-14 season have Burnley progressed past the fourth round of the EFL Cup, but their hopes of a notable scalp over us are not groundless given our miserable fortunes.

Our defeat to Vitesse in the Europa Conference League (I was there witnessing that shit in person, along with about 300 other travelling away fans) was expected to pale into insignificance against West Ham for us, with Santo electing to give his first-choice XI a complete break before the trip to Upton Park…oh, sorry, the London Meccano set stadium.

With three defeats posted from our last four away games in all competitions, questions continue to be mentioned over the appointment of Santo to the Tottenham hot seat; it is now seven games without a clean sheet away from home for us.

On the positive side: we record against Burnley serves as an encouragement, as we have won three of our last four encounters - scoring 11 goals and conceding just once in that time - while we also overcame Burnley 6-4 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the 2008-09 EFL Cup before losing to Manchester United in the final.

Burnley EFL Cup form:

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Burnley form (all competitions):

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Tottenham Hotspur EFL Cup form:

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Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

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Team News

Burnley

Ben Mee missed out against Southampton as he continued to recover from coronavirus, while Charlie Taylor and Matej Vydra were both fit enough to play a part at the weekend. Dale battles back from a foot problem.

Vydra and Rodriguez will hope to return to the first XI for the EFL Cup, while Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Aaron Lennon are options for rotation out wide.

Spurs

Ryan Sessegnon and Matt Doherty are set to remain sidelined with a hamstring injury and a knock, respectively.

Santo did not report any fresh injury concerns from the win over West Ham but will probably hope to freshen things up, with Bryan Gil and Dele Alli hoping to return to the first XI here.

Son has struck four goals and set up two more in his last six EFL Cup starts, but he will likely be kept in reserve for this clash as Harry Kane leads the line.

My possible starting lineup:

Gollini; Tanganga, Romero, Sanchez, Davies; Hojbjerg, Skipp, Alli; Gil, Kane, Bergwijn

My prediction: in the game against Vitesse, I predicted a 4-0 win, providing the right team turned up, and the same applies here. We will win 4-0 unless Nuno puts out a weak team. Then we could either lose or draw and if a draw, it will mean we go into a penalty shootout.

Both teams have not displayed any sort of a winning mentality consistently this season. However, we should view this contest as the ideal chance to claim a much-needed win.

Be safe, Glenn