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Burnley welcomes Liverpool to their Lancashire home on Boxing Day in a Premier League matchup at Turf Moor between the second-best and the second-worst teams.
Over the weekend, Vincent Kompany’s team surprised everyone by defeating Fulham 2-0, while the Reds’ intense struggle at the top of the table finished in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Following Fulham’s fruitless first-half efforts against Burnley at Craven Cottage, Kompany’s team capitalised on the Cottagers’ wastefulness in the 47th minute when Wilson Odobert gave Marco Silva’s team a masterclass in goal-scoring.
After a suitably long 19 minutes, the 19-year-old French alumnus Sander Berge’s relentless run through the middle culminated in a powerful low drive that sailed past Bernd Leno’s pointless reach to give Burnley only their third victory of the premier league campaign.
Burnley, whose recent road heroics also included a commendable 1-1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion, has ended a run of defeats that dates back to October 3. However, the 19th-placed Clarets are still three points outside of safety. Burnley has moved Sheffield United to the bottom of the league.
Giving the supporters of Turf Moor a couple of early Christmas presents, Burnley has already earned seven of their 11 Premier League points this season in December.
This sequence of results includes their 5-0 devastation of Sheffield United, which put an end to a record-breaking seven-game home losing streak.
But on December 16, when Everton visited town, Kompany’s team went back to losing on home soil. Since then, five of the hosts’ previous seven Premier League Boxing Day games have ended in losses, setting up a showdown with the Toffees’ fierce Merseyside rivals.
Although the much-awaited match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield did not live up to expectations, fans were nonetheless treated to a captivating match between the Reds and Arsenal on Saturday night, in which Gabriel Magalhaes scored the Gunners’ fastest Premier League goal at Anfield in just four minutes.
Even so, the Reds rallied thanks to the usual contribution of Mohamed Salah, and they were left to lament both their own inefficiency and the controversial officiating.
Martin Odegaard narrowly avoided giving up a penalty for handling in the box, and Trent Alexander-Arnold struck the crossbar to cap off a five-on-one counterattack.
Although Klopp was especially upset by the Odegaard call, a cursory look at the statistics indicates that a point apiece was a reasonable outcome as Liverpool overtook Aston Villa to reclaim second place in the standings and made sure Arsenal would not widen their narrow lead at the top.
Unless Aston Villa also defeats Manchester United and benefits from a massive goal differential swing in their favour, Liverpool will climb to the top with a three-point haul at Turf Moor.
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The Gunners won’t play again until Thursday evening. At least the Reds’ winning streak in the top flight has now reached 11 games after their Saturday draw.
Additionally, the visitors have won all three of their previous encounters with Burnley—who are looking to become the first newly promoted team to ever defeat Liverpool in a Premier League Boxing Day match—and have made the net bulge in each of their previous 13 away top-flight games.
Burnley Premier League form:
L W L D L W
Liverpool Premier League form:
D W W W D D
Liverpool form (all competitions):
W W L D W D
Charlie Taylor, the left-back, returned for Burnley’s victory against Fulham, giving manager Kompany some optimism. However, tests for late fitness are still needed for Johann Berg Gudmundsson (unspecified), Jack Cork (calf), and Aaron Ramsey (knee).
Odobert’s man-of-the-match performance at Craven Cottage suggests that Kompany will be in good hands while the former spends months in the treatment room. Luca Koleosho is definitely out as he recovers from knee surgery.
Mike Tresor came in for Jacob Bruun Larsen during the second half of the match against Fulham, marking a tactical alteration that Kompany should definitely take into consideration from the opening whistle on Boxing Day.
More than can be said for Liverpool, who saw Kostas Tsimikas destroy Jurgen Klopp after the German was unintentionally thrust into his path during a touchline brawl with Bukayo Saka, the Clarets did not discover any new worries over the weekend.
Although Tsimikas suffered a broken collarbone and would be sidelined for an extended amount of time, Klopp was unharmed in the event. As Andrew Robertson recovers from a shoulder procedure, the Reds will be without a recognized senior left-back.
Joe Gomez should fill in at left-back for the time being since Tsimikas and Robertson are sidelined. Luis Diaz also had a knock to the knee in the draw with Arsenal, but he should be cleared to play on Boxing Day.
Nevertheless, Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Thiago Alcantara (hip), Diogo Jota (muscle), Ben Doak (knee), Alexis Mac Allister (knee), Joel Matip (knee), and Diogo Jota (muscle) are all out of the running and won’t be back until 2020.
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Vitinho, O’Shea, Beyer, Taylor; Tresor, Berge, Brownhill, Odobert; Foster, Amdouni
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Gomez; Szoboszlai, Endo, Gravenberch; Salah, Gakpo, Nunez
Our prediction for this match 3-1 or 2-0 won by Liverpool
