High-flying Burnley are still looking for their first victory in 2018 and their next chance to get it is on Saturday when they host Everton at Turf Moor. The Clarets won the reverse fixture 1-0 in October thanks to a first-half goal from Jeff Hendrick, but since then manager Ronald Koeman left Everton and was replaced by Sam Allardyce. Overall, Everton have won four of the last seven direct matches while Burnley have won the remaining three, so there have been no draws between these two teams in the last seven matches.
Burnley seemed to be capable of pushing for a top-six finish at a certain point, but they have failed to win any of their last eleven Premier League matches and drifted away from the top six. However, the Clarets are still in seventh place and have lost just one of their last four matches. Losing against Everton would see Burnley drop to ninth place and from there they could slip into the bottom half of the table before too long. Steven Defour, Jonathan Walters and Robbie Brady are injured for the home side and are expected to miss out, while Scott Arfield is a doubt.
Everton have seen a bit of a revival under new boss Sam Allardyce, but they are still a long way off what has been expected of them at the start of the season. Last week they lost 1-0 at Watford, their fourth consecutive away defeat in the Premier League. In fact, their away form has been terrible all season, they have won just one of their fourteen league matches on the road and conceded 29 goals. Leighton Baines, James McCarthy, Eliaquim Mangala and Maarten Stekelenburg remain injured, but Seamus Coleman could recover in time to feature here.
Probable line-ups:
Burnley: Pope - Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Ward - Gudmundsson, Cork, Hendrick, Lennon - Barnes, Vokes
Everton: Pickford - Coleman, Keane, Williams, Martina - Gueye, Schneiderlin - Walcott, Davies, Sigurdsson - Tosun
My prediction: Burnley to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Burnley win - 2.37
Draw - 3.10
Everton win - 3.20
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