AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth will be hoping to avenge defeat by Premier League rivals Burnley in September when they host the Clarets at Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
AFC Bournemouth v Burnley
Saturday 6 April
Premier League, 3pm
Vitality Stadium
Having qualified for this season’s Europa League, Burnley supporters would no doubt have been eagerly awaiting the start of the new campaign.
Finishing seventh in the Premier League in 2017/18 put the Clarets in the hat for the draw with Scottish Premiership runners-up Aberdeen their first opponents.
A tense victory over the Dons set up a third qualifying round encounter with Istanbul Basaksehir with Jack Cork’s goal moving Burnley to within one round of the group stage.
Both ties were decided in extra-time before the Clarets exited at the hands of Olympiakos having dominated the second leg of their play-off round at Turf Moor.
After six games in 36 days – their season having started in late July – Burnley’s European adventure came to an end on the penultimate day of August.
A little over three weeks later, fifth-placed Cherries headed to Turf Moor to face the Clarets, who were at the foot of the table having taken a solitary point from their first five league games.
Burnley followed up their 4-0 win over Eddie Howe’s team with a 2-1 victory at Cardiff, the six-point haul propelling them to 12th at the end of September.
However, that was as good as it got for the Clarets with just one win in their next 12 league games seeing them reach the halfway stage of the season in the relegation zone.
Sean Dyche’s team hauled themselves away from danger after putting together an eight-match unbeaten run which included wins over West Ham, Huddersfield, Fulham, Brighton and Tottenham.
It took them to 14th, six points clear of the bottom three, before successive defeats at the hands of Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Leicester dropped them to 17th, with just two points separating them from 18th-placed Cardiff.
The tide turned thanks to their 2-0 win over Wolves in their most recent outing – Dyche’s 300th game in management – as the gap widened to five points with seven matches remaining.
LAST TIME OUT
Burnley 2-0 Wolves
Teenage frontman Dwight McNeil inspired the Clarets to victory over Wolves at Turf Moor as they ended a run of four straight Premier League defeats.
The 19-year-old had a hand in their early opener and secured the points with a stunning individual strike which saw them move five points clear of the relegation zone.
Burnley took the lead inside 90 seconds when Chris Wood’s shot from a McNeil free-kick hit the post before going in off Wolves captain Conor Coady.
A game of few clear-cut chances was settled by McNeil when he finished with aplomb by firing an unstoppable drive past Rui Patricio 13 minutes from time.
Burnley’s victory, coupled with Southampton winning at Brighton, confirmed Huddersfield’s demotion back to the Championship.
Clarets boss Sean Dyche said: “It was a very important three points. The main thing was that, although we’ve played better, the detail was in the basics – doing the ugly, hard stuff to make sure we didn’t give them too much. That was important.
“I’ve always marvelled at the mentality of the players. We had a real hit against Leicester when we dominated the game and lost in the last minute.
“But we’ve had a break and the players are back energised. That bodes well and we have to maintain that and get points on the board.”
2018-19 TOP SCORER
Chris Wood – 11 goals in all competitions
THE MANAGER
Sean Dyche
A no-nonsense defender in his playing days, Dyche represented Chesterfield, Bristol City, Millwall, Watford and Northampton and also had a loan spell with Luton.
He captained and scored a penalty for Chesterfield against Middlesbrough in the semi-final of the 1997 FA Cup, the Spireites eventually losing after a replay.
Following his retirement in 2007, Dyche joined the coaching staff at Watford before replacing Malky Mackay as manager in June 2011.
A change of ownership led to him leaving Vicarage Road after just one season and he took up a temporary post with the England under-21 backroom staff in September 2012.
The following month, Dyche succeeded Eddie Howe as manager of Burnley, leading the Clarets to the Premier League in 2014 after a four-year absence.
Relegated after just one season, Burnley returned to the top flight in 2016 before Dyche led them to seventh place in 2017/18, their best finish since 1974.
Europa League qualification saw them do battle with Aberdeen, Istanbul Basaksehir and Olympiakos with the Clarets failing to reach the group stage.
KEY STATS
- Steve Robinson and Mark Stein both netted twice when the Cherries recorded their biggest league win against the Clarets in November 1998. Christer Warren was also on target in a 5-0 victory at Dean Court.
- Burnley’s clean sheet in their 2-0 win over Wolves was their first in nine league games.
- Dwight McNeil has been directly involved in five goals in his past seven Premier League games for Burnley at Turf Moor, scoring three and assisting two.
- McNeil has been directly involved in seven league goals this season – three goals, four assists – which is the joint most of any teenager and level with Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon.
- Of the 25 league meetings between the clubs, 10 have been drawn while another 10 have been won by a one-goal margin.
- Burnley were one of 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888.
- Roger Brown scored the only goal when the Cherries registered their first league win against Burnley in April 1984.
- Ben Mee has made 190 clearances for Burnley in the Premier League this season, while Nathan Ake has made 204 for the Cherries.
- Eddie Howe scored his first career goal for the Cherries against the Clarets in a 2-2 draw at Turf Moor in October 1997. Chris Waddle was on target for Burnley.
- Burnley are one of only five clubs to have won all four divisions of English football, the other four being Wolves, Preston, Portsmouth and Sheffield United.
