Huddersfield Town v Burnley preview: Clarets without several key players

Burnley expect to be without several first-team regulars again when they round out an incredible 2017 with a trip to Huddersfield on Saturday.

After securing survival on their return to the Premier League last season, Sean Dyche's side have excelled themselves this time around to sit seventh, with their away form particularly impressive.

Only the current top four have won more away points in the Premier League this season than Burnley (16), and they have already travelled to Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham.

However, boss Sean Dyche is convinced Burnley fans will resist the urge to get "drunk" on the team's unexpected success during the festive season.

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"I don't think the fans here are too drunk on it all," said Dyche. "They know there's a reality to it. We have to work for everything we get. From the outside I think the fans are enjoying the ride but I think they're well aware there's no 'gimmes' and we have to earn the right in everything we do."

Huddersfield are also defying the naysayers to currently sit 11th, but two wins from their last nine games will be worrying for boss David Wagner.

Team news

Burnley defender James Tarkowski completes a three-match suspension, left-back Stephen Ward (knee) is out and striker Chris Wood (leg) is unlikely to be fit.

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There is better news on Dean Marney and Jon Walters, who have both returned to the bench over the festive period, but Robbie Brady (knee) and Tom Heaton (shoulder) are long-term absentees.

Huddersfield defender Chris Lowe hopes to recover from an ongoing foot problem in time for the match. Left-back Lowe sustained the injury in the recent win at Watford, but was forced off late on in the home draw against Stoke on Boxing Day.

Wagner has no new injury or suspension concerns, while Michael Hefele (Achilles), Philip Billing (ankle), Elias Kachunga and Jon Gorenc Stankovic (both knee) remain unavailable.

Opta stats

• Huddersfield lost their last home meeting with Burnley, back in March 2016 in the Championship. It ended 3-1 to the away side, but all four goals came before half-time
• Burnley have lost just three of their 20 league meetings with Huddersfield Town since March 1971 (W11 D6 L3) and are unbeaten in their last four against them in league competition (W3 D1 L0)
• The Premier League meeting between these two clubs earlier this season ended 0-0 and only saw 13 shots in total - just one match in the competition this season has seen fewer attempted
• Burnley won their final league game of both 2015 and 2016 and both of these games saw them score exactly four goals and one of their players net a hat-trick.

Merson's prediction

I thought Mourinho saying Burnley had 1.5 shots was unfair. They scored two goals at Old Trafford, they didn't sit 100 players behind the ball and the goalkeeper wasn't man of the match! Sean Dyche took off a midfielder and put on a centre-forward when they were 2-1 up! They keep surprising me.

This is a difficult game to predict, I really thought Huddersfield would beat Stoke when they went 2-1 up. I do think they'll just steal this one.

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

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