MATCH PREVIEW: STOKE CITY V BURNLEY

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Clarets back on the road with a trip to Stoke

2024-11-29T19:00:00.000Z

MATCH PREVIEW: STOKE CITY V BURNLEY

Clarets back on the road with a trip to Stoke

2024-11-29T19:00:00.000Z

Clarets back on the road with a trip to Stoke

Burnley are back in Sky Bet Championship action on Saturday afternoon (3pm) as Scott Parker's side head to the bet365 Stadium to take on Stoke City.

The Clarets head to Stoke-on-Trent following three consecutive wins and four straight clean sheets and a win against the Potters could see Burnley move back into the automatic promotion places.

Parker's men currently sit 3rd in the league table, two points off Sheffield United and Leeds United in the top-two spots, prior to this weekend's fixtures.

Saturday's hosts City are sat 14th in the Championship, having taken 21 points from their first 17 games, but are currently enjoying a five-match unbeaten run, following two wins and three draws.

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How to watch

The game will not be shown live on any UK broadcast channel, but to find out the EFL rightsholders countries showing the game live click here.

Live audio commentary will be available as usual via Clarets+ from 2:45pm on the day.

Full match highlights, goals and interviews will be available to view after the match on Clarets+ and across all social media channels.

Click here to view all our Clarets+ packages.

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The opposition

The Potters are in their seventh consecutive Sky Bet Championship campaign, after suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2018.

City had enjoyed 10 straight seasons in the top-flight prior to that relegation, which included three consecutive 9th place finishes between 2013 and 2016, as well as finishing runners-up in the 2011 FA Cup final.

Since returning to the Championship, the highest place finish the Potters have achieved is 14th, which came three seasons ago and City were to narrowly avoid relegation to League One last year, after finishing just six points above the relegation places.

Following the announcement of manager Narcís Pèlach in September, that confirmed the seventh permanent boss since returning to the second-tier, with four caretaker manager's during that spell.

City suffered a tricky start to the 2024/25 campaign, but have since picked up form, after securing two wins and three draws in the last five league matches.

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In the dugout

Narcís Pèlach began his coaching career with Spanish side Figueres B team and spent a couple of years in that role, before being appointed manager of the first team in 2016.

Following two seasons in charge of Figueres, Pèlach was named boss of Peralada-Girona B team, who were playing in the third tier of Spanish football and the Spaniard led them to a ninth place finish in his first year at the club.

June 2019 saw Pèlach depart and join Girona as assistant manager to Juan Carlo Unzue, but following a brief spell in the top-flight, his next move was to England and the Championship.

He joined Huddersfield Town as assistant coach to Carlos Corberan ahead of the 2020/21 campaign and was part of the coaching staff that led the Terriers to the play-off final against Nottingham Forest.

Following Corberan's departure, Pèlach was named interim boss of the Yorkshire side prior to Mark Fotheringham taking over, before being put in temporary charge again in February 2023, following Fotheringham's dismissal.

Ahead of last season, he joined Norwich City as a first team coach working under David Wagner and following 18 months at Carrow Road, was then appointed manager of Stoke City in September.

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30/12/2022 - Stoke City 0 - 1 Burnley

Burnley: Muric, Roberts, Harwood-Bellis, Beyer, Maatsen, Cork ©, Cullen, Brownhill, Churlinov (Zaroury 51), Benson (Tella 68), Barnes (Rodriguez 51)

Unused Subs: Peacock-Farrell, Taylor, Twine, Gudmundsson

Stoke City: Bonham, Clarke, Fox, Souttar, Baker, Brown (Delap 70), Campbell, Tymon (Fosu 70), Thompson, Wilmot, Smallbone (Laurent 70)

Unused Subs: Bursik, Delap, Kilkenny, Fosu, Powell, Laurent, Taylor

Goals: Cullen 61'

Attendance: 21,464 (2,557)

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What Scott Parker said

"We're progressing nicely. Defensively we've been very solid and sound, I think that's just given us the foundation.

"It's a young back unit that have done extremely well and of course the defensive unit isn't just the the back five, but it's the whole team.

"The attacking phase is moving in the right direction, a lot of work goes in at the training ground and I think the last couple of games has shown evidence of what's to come from this team.

"They’re a solid team, they've been difficult to beat this season. We're going to a tough stadium, a well established team, they know what needs to be done and have some real technical players.

"Defensively they have been very, very sound. We will need to be at our best and go there to try get the result. We will be looking into where we can hurt them, we go there off the back of some good results and real energy and hopefully we can carry that with us into the weekend."