Burnley v Leicester: Ben Mee out as Clarets and Foxes target seventh

Image: Ben Mee will be missing again for Burnley

Burnley can take a big step towards qualifying for next season's Europa League when they host Leicester on Saturday.

Having won their last four games in a row, the seventh-placed Clarets are six points ahead of the Foxes with six games left to play.

Seventh place in the Premier League will be enough for a European spot, provided Southampton do not win the FA Cup.

"It's been a while since Burnley have been in European football so it would be great for us to get back there," said defender Matt Lowton.

"It's what you want to do as a young footballer. You want to play in the Premier League and you want to play in European football."

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After a mid-season dip, Burnley have recovered impressively in recent weeks as they have won four games in a row, three of which were away from home.

They now face Leicester and Chelsea at Turf Moor over the next week, with the Foxes having lost to Newcastle last time out.

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Leicester did win the reverse fixture 1-0 in December thanks to an early goal from Demarai Gray.

Matt Lowton says Sean Dyche has been key to Burnley's success and thinks the club would adapt to European football

Team news

Burnley will be without defender Ben Mee (shin), who Sean Dyche says could miss the rest of the season.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson could return after six weeks out with a calf injury but Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Scott Arfield are both doubts.

Vicente Iborra is out for Leicester due to a hamstring injury.

Sean Dyche admitted he felt Burnley would have a good season, although he did not think they would be challenging for Europe

Opta facts

Burnley have lost four of their last five home league games against Leicester, but did win the most recent encounter (1-0 in January 2017).

The Clarets could win five consecutive matches in the top-flight for the first time since November 1968 (six in a row) - one of the wins in that run came against Leicester.

The Foxes are looking to win three consecutive away Premier League matches for the first time since April 2016.

After keeping clean sheets in six of their opening nine Premier League home games this season, and conceding just three goals, Sean Dyche's side have conceded in each of their last six at Turf Moor (nine goals in total).

Merson's prediction

It's a big game for the Europa League. Burnley just keep winning at the moment and Leicester had a shocking result last week against Newcastle.

A win for Burnley would probably be enough for the Europa League next season which is a feat and a half. They had some difficult games in the middle of the season but weren't getting blown away and were a bit unlucky in some, and then the games against the teams around them and below they have managed to win. If they didn't have that dip they would be above Arsenal.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (9/1 with Sky Bet)

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