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Saints At Burnley The Preview

Saints record at Burnley has been awful in the last decade it is time for all that to change and to take the three points back South.

It has been nearly 12 years since we won at Turf Moor October 2007 to be precise when we won 3-2, since then a few draws along the way has been the best we have got in the five visits since.

So a win is well overdue and would be most welcome given that we sit level on points with the Clarets and we are both the teams that Cardiff are looking to try and haul back into the relegation fight.

But we are better placed to go to Burnley and get a result than we were a year ago when Manolo Gabbiadini rescued a point in injury time against a Burnley side that finished 7th.

It will not be easy though Burnley have improved in recent weeks and pulled themselves out of the zone with thre straight League wins, two against fellow relegation strugglers Huddersfield and Fulham and one against West Ham.

But they are a team that are based on a tight defence and scoring from rare attacks, they have swapped one striker for another in the transfer window, Saints supporting Sam Vokes leaving and going to Stoke and former Saints striker Peter Crouch going in the other direction, Crouch's season at St Mary's 14 years ago remains his best ever with 12 goals that year, since then he has only got into double figures once.

So we can go there without fear and on paper this is as easy a game as we have had since our trip to Huddersfield before Xmas but we should not be complacent, we need to go there be focused and do a job.

Sean Dyche has come in for some criticism but he has got his players going again, we have to stop that, they are unbeaten in six in the Premier League we have to make sure it's not 7.

Teamwise I expect our line up to be pretty much the one that faced both Everton & Palace, however there is a question mark over Alex McCarthy, he was dropped at the start of January then strangely reinstated, against Palace he looked shaky and flapped at several crosses along with questions asked on the Palace goal in the way he was beaten at the near post. Given the fact that Burnley pose an aerial threat at set pieces and with the addition of Peter Crouch adding to that, will Angus Gunn be restores to the starting line up, I would not bet against it.

Otherwise I can't see many changes, I have a sneaking feeling that Shane Long might come back in for his abilities to hold the ball up and that given Danny Ing's injury issues he might be rested at his former club and I think Ryan Bertrand might play some part, but apart from that nothing else sticks out that Ralph Hasenhuttl might change.

This is a big game, defeat won't mean disaster and relegation, a draw will be a small step forward, but victory would be massive !

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