Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tonight sees a team that have turned their home ground into Fort Knox against a side that have failed to win on the road this season. Logic dictates that there is only one way that this game is going to go but as we all know the Premier League defies logic on a regular basis.
It’s Burnley that have maid Turf Moor an almost impenetrable fortress this season with 25 of their 26 league points coming at home and although they have their own issues in regards to winning away from home it thankfully is not too much of an issue thanks to 8 wins and a draw in front of their home fans.
And they were minutes away from adding to their solitary point at The Emirates in their last league outing. A task they thought they have managed to achieve after Andre Gray’s penalty just about found it’s way past Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal.
But as we all know there was still an agonising twist in the tale for Burnley as Ben Mee was adjudged to have kicked an offside Laurent Koscielny in the head, the offside was not spotted but the high boot was and that meant John Moss pointed to the spot.
Alexis Sanchez’s ice cool finish gave Arsenal the points but it was nothing short of gutting for Sean Dyche’s men especially as that was the second controversial goal that they have suffered at the hands of Arsenal this season. In effect bad referring has cost them in both Arsenal vs Burnley match ups and Dyche will be glad to see the back of the North London side until hopefully next season.
For Leicester though they may love traveling abroad but their domestic travels seem to be somewhat of a burden. Those away woes continued last week as Wes Morgan’s goal rescued a draw against Championship side Derby in the F.A. Cup on Friday night.
It was a goal that saved Leicester from being dumped out of the cup and adding possibly more pressure on Claudio Ranieri. Last season’s heroics on the way to winning the title seem so long ago now and The Foxes are now having to look over their shoulder with just a 5 point buffer to the drop zone.
Their plight was not helped by the fact that they were soundly beaten 3-0 by Southampton in their last league outing. Ranieri without both Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani due to AFCON duty experimented with a diamond midfield but it’s fair to say that the experiment has failed.
And in terms of failure Ranieri’s summer signings have not been up to scratch either, with one of them already departing in the form of Luis Hernandez who has returned to La Liga after completing a deal with Malaga in the past 7 days.
Thankfully though for Ranieri due to Algeria have a torrid time in the AFCON and not making the Quarter Finals he will be able to rely on the services of both Mahrez and Slimani as they go in search of their first away league win of the season.
Can they pull it off against The Clarets though? Well the form book would say certainly not and to be honest I would have to agree. Burnley sit 13th and although 2 places clear of Leicester they are 5 points better off and I would imagine them to extend that gap this Evening. A home win for me.
