Baggies take on formidable Burnley

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·10 March 2025

Baggies take on formidable Burnley

Burnley v West Bromwich Albion; Turf Moor, Tuesday 11th March 2025, 7.45pm

Albion travel to Lancashire on Tuesday for their second tough away game in succession. They put in an excellent performance at Elland Road last week, and Burnley will present an equally difficult challenge. They are on a 23-game unbeaten run having conceded just once in their last 14 games and have won their last two home games 4-0. Given that the Baggies haven’t won on the road since November, I’m sure that all Albion fans will take a point, a result that would be enough to keep them in the top six barring a remarkable result at Bramall Lane.

Scott Parker’s team are enjoying a remarkable season, at least in terms of their defence, having conceded just ten goals in the league. While they were struggling to find the net themselves earlier on in the season meaning that they are almost on a par with Albion in terms of draws, that seems to have been resolved recently with ten goals in their last three games. They have lost just twice all season, both 1-0 on the road at Sunderland in August and Millwall in November. Their 3-0 FA Cup defeat at Preston last week was something of an anomaly no doubt partly down to the nine changes that Parker made to the starting eleven.

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Midfielder, Josh Brownhill, is the Clarets’ top scorer with 12 goals this season and he is on form having scored in each of the last three games, the first of those from the bench against Sheffield Wednesday. Dutch forward, Zian Flemming, has also been on good goalscoring form and has seven goals to his name while one of Burnley’s most effective players has been winger Jaidon Anthony who has three goals and six assists to his name. Obviously, the defence has been excellent and, in front of goalkeeper, James Trafford, the back four of Lucas Pires, CJ Egan-Riley, Maxime Estève and Conor Roberts has been largely unchanged for much of the season with all but Pires from that quintet recording more than 30 appearances in the Championship this season. Josh Cullen, who protects the back four, is another vitally important cog in the Clarets machine and has only failed to feature in two league games this season and has started each of the last 31 Championship matches.

Tony Mowbray will have to make at least two changes to his starting line up for Tuesday’s match. Jayson Molumby received his tenth yellow card in Saturday’s match against Queen’s Park Rangers which means he will be suspended for this match, as well as the visit of Hull City to the Hawthorns on Saturday. Meanwhile, the club’s appeal against Darnell Furlong’s red card was rejected on Monday which means that the right back will miss three games and will not be available until the visit of Sunderland to the Hawthorns on 5th April.

Furlong will undoubtedly be replaced by Mason Holgate which is acceptable, but leaves the defence severely short of cover. With Semi Ajayi injured, Gianluca Frabotta is the only other senior defensive player available although I guess Ousmane Diakité could fill in at centre back should that be needed – let’s just hope that we have no further absences at the back in the coming weeks. Molumby’s replacement is less certain – as a like-for-like replacement, Diakité is probably the closest but he is still a very different player to the Irishman. Mowbray may opt to play a more attacking midfielder such as John Swift or Grady Diangana, but it’s not a straightforward decision.

It is difficult to assess the success of Saturday’s team selection, at least following the red card, but the team dug in well and looked dangerous on the break, which is, perhaps, a positive sign for what might be required at Turf Moor. Before the incident, however, I was a little disappointed in what Albion were able to create and they were, perhaps, a little fortunate to be ahead. Rangers did very little in before the goal but neither did the hosts in what was a fairly drab first period. Mikey Johnston was the only Albion player to have an attempt on goal before Armstrong converted the penalty and, as it turned out, that proved to be the hosts only other effort on goal for the entire game.

At the end of the game, the feeling was one of relief and success and, as Mowbray pointed out, it was a huge result given how the chasing pack all fared, but the first half was not exactly encouraging. Albion have not yet clicked under Mowbray and, while Tuesday’s game demands another battling approach, they need to start playing with some attacking flair if they are to maintain their top six position.

One thing I took encouragement from in the second half, beyond the stoicism displayed by the team, was the performance of Daryl Dike and what he can potentially provide for the remainder of the season. He is a very different player to Armstrong and, I think, could offer that variety up front that has been lacking in recent weeks. Despite him taking the penalty well, I’m still waiting for the Southampton loanee to really show what he can do and, when Dike is able to put in 90 minutes, I’d be tempted to give him a go from the start. And, of course, we should not forget Will Lankshear who offers something different again and, while there has been no update for a while, I’d expect Josh Maja to be returning to the squad shortly after the international break. Armstrong has been given plenty of opportunities and he is obviously a player Mowbray knows and likes, but I do wonder how long he will retain the starting spot when there are other options available.

Mowbray surprised most with his selection of John Swift at Leeds and, despite he himself describing the absence of Diangana as “criminal”, he proceeded to leave him out of the game against QPR as well! It is, therefore, difficult to predict what the front six might look like on Tuesday evening, but I’m sure they will carry a threat, even to the mighty Burnley.

It will be a tough game, but as Albion proved at Elland Road, they are more than capable of coming away with something.

History

Albion are currently on a run of six games without a victory against Burnley with their last win coming at Turf Moor in the Premier League encounter in August 2017 when Hal Robson-Kanu’s strike was enough to claim all three points. Since then, the clubs have met six times with the Clarets winning two, most recently in Lancashire in January 2023, and the other four finishing all square, three of them goalless.

The Baggies have won just two of their last 19 games at Turf Moor, with their victory prior to 2017 coming fifteen years earlier when a Jason Roberts double in the first six minutes was enough to claim the three points in February 2002. That was Albion’s first win at Burnley since 1965 when Ken Foggo scored the only goal of the game for Jimmy Hagan’s team.

With both clubs being Founder Members of the Football League, the history of the fixture is a long one although, remarkably, the teams have been drawn against one another in a cup competition only twice, both in the FA Cup, once in the 19th century and once in the 21st! Furthermore, the clubs went for more than two decades without meeting at all between 1971 and 1992. Burnley were relegated from Division One in 1971 and the two clubs swapped divisions in both 1973 and 1976 and were still two divisions apart in 1991 before Albion’s relegation that year and the Clarets’ promotion from the fourth tier brought the two clubs together for the 1992/93 campaign.

With 20 wins from 67 visits, the Baggies’ record at Turf Moor isn’t bad, but their best times at Turf Moor are in the past. 16 of those 20 victories came in 32 visits between 1904 and 1961 including four wins and a draw from six visits under the great Vic Buckingham in the 1950s. That included one of two 4-1 victories that Albion have recorded at Burnley, the other coming in 1904. In September 1953, Buckingham’s “Team of the Century” were on a fantastic run when they battered the Clarets with goals from Ronnie Allen, Johnny Nicholls (2) and Reg Ryan to secure a 4-1 win that kept them top of the table – they would follow that up with a 7-3 at St James’s Park, Newcastle.

Burnley had recorded their biggest win over Albion just two years previously when Billy Morris scored four in a 6-1 win in September 1951.