Burnley

Natalie Bromley
Fan writer

Image source, PA Media

The discourse on my social media feeds on Saturday evening was dominated by talk of sacking Scott Parker - which is apparently the fundamental necessity for Burnley's chances of survival in the Premier League. Whether a new manager would have a better chance than Parker of keeping the Clarets up depends on one fundamental question: who exactly is to blame for Burnley's poor form?

Is it a question of naive tactics or of a poor squad? Because if it is the latter and the squad just does not have the quality to compete at this level, then the blame sits with the board and not with the manager.

But perhaps no-one is to blame. Perhaps Burnley Football Club will never have the financial resources at its disposal in order to survive in the modern Premier League.

The "sack-the-manager sticking plaster" has been used as a staple of Premier League strategy for as long as I can remember, and this year we have already seen West Ham and Nottingham Forest taking the gamble with a new manager.

The common consensus seems to be that Nuno Espirito Santo and Sean Dyche will be more than capable of pulling both teams away from the bottom of the table. But it is still close, with the Clarets sitting just one or two points behind both of them and having already faced all but one of the trickiest teams so far.

If the Burnley board is considering a new manager, when do they do it? Do they see what comes in through the January transfer window and give Parker time to fight? Or do they give whatever war chest they do have to the new one?

Having watched this board show (misplaced, in my view) loyalty to Vincent Kompany as he worked on his career and not his job, I will be amazed if ALK are even thinking about a change in manager.

But this is the Premier League. And it does funny things to people...

Find more from Natalie Bromley at No Nay Never podcast, external

What do you think? Is the blame at Parker's feet?

Or is he doing the best he can with the resources at his disposal?

Give us your thoughts

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Teams sitting on 11 points or fewer after 13 Premier League games are usually in some trouble, but history shows survival is far from impossible.

Eight sides have managed to escape from that position, most recently Nottingham Forest in 2022-23, who had only nine points at this stage, yet pulled clear under Steve Cooper.

Perhaps the most striking example is Crystal Palace in 2013-14. The Eagles had just seven points after 13 matches and looked destined for relegation, but a managerial reset changed everything.

Ian Holloway departed on 23 October, Tony Pulis arrived a month later, and under the former Stoke boss, Palace surged to an 11th-place finish with 45 points. Caretaker Keith Millen bridged the gap with four games in between.

Interestingly, of the eight sides who survived from such a low base, only three made managerial changes mid-season: Palace (Pulis for Holloway), West Brom (Bryan Robson replacing Gary Megson) and Southampton (Mauricio Pochettino for Nigel Adkins).

For the others, stability rather than upheaval proved the route to safety - food for thought for West Ham, Leeds United, Burnley and Wolves who are either at or under that 11-point mark through 13 games this season.

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Brentford and Burnley

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Ian: Well that was certainly a game of two halves! The first half was forgettable. Brentford started the second half on the front foot. Jordan Henderson had a great game in midfield. Igor Thiago had courage in taking Brentford's penalty after last week at Brighton. His second goal was a proper poacher's goal, arriving late at the back post. Mr Ancelotti - are you taking note? The Gtech is turning into a fortress. If only the away form could improve. This week Brentford have a double header in north London. What if it happened there? Football is a funny old game.

John: Another great win for the Bees. I saw my first game in 1956. l can't believe where we are at the moment. Enjoy every match, win or lose - this is a golden age.

Chuck: Perseverance and better quality in the second half saw off limited opponents. Henderson and Damsgaard again impressed. The only black mark was Thiago walking off injured with a few minutes to go. Hopefully he'll be back for our visit to Tottenham in the week to show their head coach what he's missing.

Russell: Far from convincing, but if we keep winning most home games, we should be OK, even though it might take 40-plus points to stay up this season.

Burnley fans

Steve: Parker is a genuinely likeable manager, and he's a good moral figurehead for a club like ours. Saying that doesn't address the issues on and off the pitch, namely fitness, with the players seemingly struggling after half-time. This urgently needs looking at. Also, our set-pieces are all either easily read or poorly delivered. And our willingness to attack is mostly absent. Far too cautious and we invite pressure on ourselves. We're now all but down, and before Christmas. Still, how does a club as small as Burnley ever survive against the money on display with other clubs? It makes Dyche's achievement with us even more remarkable.

Neil: No goal threat is costing us dearly. Then the defence falls apart. Something needs to change quickly. Has the making of a very hard winter ahead.

Peter: A good first half. As usual, when the opposition up the pace of the game, we are found wanting. We seem unable to cope with pace. We need to take the game to opponents like Brentford. I wonder if we are actually fit enough. Sunderland are no more skilful than us but boy are they fit and aggressive.

WoodleyClaret: A gutless rollover - awful tactics and again wrong subs. 1-1 with five minutes left and we threw the game away. Sorry but SP has run out of credit. Time to get in a more savvy coach.

Pundits Danny Murphy and Joe Hart join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Saturday's five Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Man City 3-2 Leeds

• Sunderland 3-2 Bournemouth

• Everton 1-4 Newcastle

Burnley manager Scott Parker speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "Disappointed. There was not much in the game in the first half. Brentford put us under pressure in second half, but we dealt with it in large parts really, really well.

"We then got ourselves back in the game, but then we conceded straight from kick-off, really and did not give us the platform to build on that goal. That was the frustrating part."

On Brentford's penalty: "I haven't watched it. I think [Axel Tuanzebe] got a toe on it, having watched in real time. Guys have been telling me he got a toe. But I'd like to think that with VAR and the amount of times you can watch it, they have come to a right decision. But I am not sure."

On Burnley's season: "We need to learn from this. We need to stay very stable. At the start of the season, I knew what this journey will probably look like. There will be bumps in that journey. We need to keep rebooting, and we have got a massive game to come on Wednesday [against Crystal Palace], so we need to go again."

Did you know?

• Burnley have lost four consecutive Premier League games in London for the first time since December 2018 (a run of 6).

Adwaidh Rajan
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

In his pre-match news conference on Thursday, Burnley manager Scott Parker spoke about the "massive progression" he had seen in his squad and conveyed his optimism in their bid to survive in the Premier League.

But after the 3-1 defeat by Brentford on Saturday, their chances of maintaining their top-flight status come the end of the seasons look very grim.

Parker's side showed plenty of character, fight and resilience again for 80 minutes of the game as they kept out waves of Brentford attacks at the Gtech Community Stadium only for their good work to be undone by a crazy final 10 minutes.

Even after going behind to a penalty, they fought back to draw level before Brentford score twice again to lay bare Burnley's weakness.

Heading into the game, they had the lowest amount of shots per game (8.2) in the Premier League since Opta started recording that data in 1997 and they only mustered six shots on Saturday to continue the trend.

It was their fourth straight defeat in the league but on a positive note, Dutch forward Zian Flemming scored his fourth goal in five matches for the Clarets.

But with only three wins and a draw to collect 10 points from13 games so far and only Wolves behind them on two points, Parker will need more from his attackers if they are to avoid another mishap in the top flight.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Brentford's performance

What did you make of Burnley's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has made two changes to his side from the 2-1 defeat by Brighton last weekend.

Aaron Hickey comes in as left-back while midfielder Mathias Jensen makes his first league start since August as Kristoffer Ajer and Yehor Yarmoliuk drop to the bench.

Brentford XI: Kelleher, Hickey, Van den Berg, Henderson, Schade, Jensen, Ouattara, Collins, Damsgaard, Kayode, Thiago.

Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Nelson, Onyeka, Yarmoliuk, Ajer, Lewis-Potter, Janelt.

Burnley manager Scott Parker also makes two changes from the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea. Lyle Foster and Hannibal Mejbri start for the Clarets as Lesley Ugochukwu and Jaidon Anthony drop to the bench.

Burnley XI: Dubravka, Walker, Hartman, Esteve, Tuanzebe, Foster, Florentino, Tchaouna, Flemming, Cullen, Mejbri.

Subs: Weiss, Larsen, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Anthony, Ekdal, Pires, Broja, Laurent.

There are five games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Brentford v Burnley

• Manchester City v Leeds United - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Sunderland v Bournemouth - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Everton v Newcastle (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Tottenham v Fulham (20:00)

Kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Sunderland v Bournemouth" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Everton v Newcastle", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

Brentford were a penalty-kick away from getting a point at Brighton last week, but Igor Thiago had his injury-time effort saved.

Bees boss Keith Andrews took the biscuit a bit afterwards, saying Thiago missed it because he had to wait too long to take it. I mean, come on Keith, you are better than that!

I'm not saying it's ideal to have to wait to take a penalty like that, but it is part of football now.

Brentford's results have been decent at home, with four wins out of six so far, and they should win this too, but it might be closer than people expect.

I am finding Burnley difficult to predict because I don't think they have been as bad as their form suggests.

Wolves [10 defeats] are the only team to have lost more games than the Clarets [eight] so far, but I still feel like Scott Parker's side have been competitive.

Burnley have got some fight, spirit and organisation. Their biggest problem, though, is that they struggle to score.

I was going to say Brentford will win 1-0, but then I found out they have scored an average of two goals a game at home, so let's go for them to maintain that.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford welcome Burnley to London this weekend with both sides seeking to push up the table. BBC Sport explores some of the key themes surrounding Saturday's fixture (15:00 GMT).

Bees buzzing at home

The Bees head into this weekend in the relative comfort of mid-table – five points clear of the relegation zone and five points below the top four.

Two defeats from their past three league outings doesn't look great on paper, but both losses came away from home and they only failed to snatch a point at Brighton last Saturday because top scorer Igor Thiago's 94th-minute penalty was saved with the Bees trailing 2-1.

The Brazilian scored his ninth top-flight goal of the season from the spot earlier in that match and only Erling Haaland, with 14, has more in the division. Thiago is vying to reach the 10-goal mark after just 13 matches this weekend and would become the quickest Brentford player to reach double figures in the division, beating Ivan Toney's previous record of 15 games set in 2022-23.

Thirteen of their 16 points have been accrued at the Gtech Community Stadium and their only home defeat this season was a 1-0 reverse to Manchester City. Only a handful of teams, including Pep Guardiola's side and league leaders Arsenal, have a better record on home soil in this campaign.

Statistics suggest that the Bees' home form could improve further still as they have triumphed in their past 10 Premier League home games against promoted clubs, scoring at least twice in each of those victories.

Clarets on the slide

Burnley sat above Brentford on goal difference after five games of this Premier League season but the gap between the teams is now six places and six points.

Scott Parker's side have slipped back into the relegation places after a hat-trick of defeats and they could suffer four losses in a row for the first time since between February and March 2024 under Vincent Kompany.

The Clarets rarely troubled the Chelsea goal last weekend and attempted only eight shots in their 2-0 home defeat. They have mustered a total of 98 shots in 12 games this term and are the only side to attempt fewer than 100 efforts at goal.

Their current ratio of 8.2 shots per game is the lowest on record in a Premier League campaign since Opta started recording that data in 1997-98 and history tells us that a season normally ends with relegation for teams who struggle to generate shooting opportunities.

Is Flemming the antidote?

Dutch forward Zian Flemming has attempted to shoulder the scoring responsibility in recent weeks despite Burnley's lack of creativity and although he didn't find the net in his previous outing he does have three goals from his past four starts.

Each of Flemming's strikes this season have come away from home and 12 of his 15 league goals for Burnley have been scored on the road. No player with 15 or more goals since the start of last season in England's top four divisions has scored a higher percentage in away matches.

Burnley have won six of their last eight league and cup games against their opponents this weekend (L2), although each of their three away triumphs in that run came at Brentford's old ground Griffin Park. By contrast, their two Premier League visits to the new stadium have resulted in defeats without scoring.

Josh Lobley
BBC Sport Journalist

Burnley boss Scott Parker has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Burnley at Gtech Community Stadium (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Aside from the players who are out with longer-term injuries, Parker reported a clean bill of health ahead of Saturday's match.

• Around a third of the way in to the Premier League season, he says he has seen "massive progression" in the squad and is optimistic about the fight to survive in the Premier League. He is determined to "keep learning and keep focused" ahead of a busy winter schedule.

• Having previously deployed a back five against the league's 'big' teams, Parker says deploying a back four against Chelsea last weekend shows how hard the team have worked in training and that his players are getting more comfortable in Premier League football.

• He says he feels very comfortable in his position - citing an "incredible relationship" with the owners - believes and the feeling around the club is one of calm.

• On Saturday's opponents: "Keith [Andrews] has done a fantastic job. They are an established Premier League team and they know how to get results, certainly at home which is a tough place to go. I feel like we can pose problems and we will go full steam ahead."

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Listen to full match commentary of Brentford v Burnley on Saturday on 95.5FM - BBC Radio Lancashire - with Scott Read and Glen Little

Kyle Walker says Scott Parker is overcoming a significant managerial hurdle in keeping players happy in a competitive changing room.

Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, Walker said: "One of the hardest things for a manager is keeping a dressing room happy. There are 11 who can play and I can assure you the 11 left out are unhappy. But everyone in that dressing room is happy and wants to play for him. The impact some of the subs have - they could have been sulky - but some are changing the game for us. I think that is vital."

On his time spent at Burnley so far, having joined during the summer, Walker added: "I'm really enjoying it. I'm still confident in what we can do and achieve with this club. All you need is a good couple of runs. It's a cut-throat business and people punish you for lapses."

"They have been saying 10 wins you need. We are on three. If we can turn some of those losses into draws, we are getting closer."

Asked how survival would compare to some of his achievements in the game, Walker added: "It would be right up there. I was very fortunate to win six Premier Leagues. Would it match the Champions League? Of course not. Would it match the third Premier League or something like that? Possibly on par. On par for different reasons. When people are doubting you so much in a town like Burnley, where they expect you to go down, if we survive this, it'll be a great achievement.

"Maybe I will make a trophy and give the lads one."

Commentary of Burnley's game at Brentford on Saturday is available on 95.5FM. Join Scott Read and Glen Little on BBC Radio Lancashire

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

The temptation is always to stick with sexy big sides each week but I was saddened for Burnley at the weekend. They should have had two penalties against Chelsea. The first was bizarre when Trevoh Chalobah, not concentrating, casually handled the ball after the keeper Robert Sanchez passed a goal kick to him inside the penalty box. The referee ordered a re-take. Really?

Then from a corner kick Benoit Badiashile was pushing Burnley's Maxime Esteve off the field while looking in precisely the opposite direction of the ball, just like an NFL linebacker might do. Instead of waiting for the corner to come in and award an obvious penalty, the referee stopped play and booked Badiashile. Call me old fashioned but I reckon Burnley would have preferred a penalty and it is the referee's job to see these incidents in play, not to stop them occurring beforehand.

What made me laugh out loud was Badiashile looking shocked at getting a card, like you honestly think that sort of play is allowed in Association Football?

Blue may well be my colour in England, but even I blushed on Burnley's behalf.

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Natalie Bromley
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Something has happened to Burnley over the past couple of weeks. We have turned into a very passive side with no real intent to win a game.

This was so obvious against Chelsea. When we don't have the ball, we lack the intensity and drive to get in the opposition's faces and win the ball back. We just allow the play to continue and try to defend the attack that the other side are building.

I have seen so many comments about a poor Chelsea performance and how they were there for the taking. I'm not sure that's true. I just don't think they ever needed to get out of first gear. Why risk injury and energy when the opposition serves you up a training game?

I hate to say this, but Sunderland got a result against Arsenal because they did just that. They were aggressive and got in Arsenal's faces, even as the game was in the dying seconds. We don't do that. And that is disappointing considering just how much further ahead of Sunderland we were last year.

Scott Parker is a naturally cautious manager. We know that, but he has to step out of his comfort zone and fire his players up - otherwise we're just waving the white flag and whimpering back down to the Championship. We have the talent, we just don't have the drive at the moment.

It was frustrating to watch us try to keep the game close when we went 1-0 down.

Parker could, and should, have used the first Chelsea goal to go for it. I understand wanting to protect goal difference, but you can reassess if you leave yourself open and start conceding two or three. To stick to the scared and timid strategy once you're a goal down is poor, in my opinion.

I ask Parker this question: what is your side's identity? What does the class of 2026 want to be known for? If you don't know the answer to that question, you have got work to do.

Find more from Natalie Bromley at No Nay Never podcast, external

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Burnley and Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Burnley fans

Paul: Very poor. Chelsea were the worst team at Turf Moor all season after the Clarets. There for the taking, but Burnley had nothing. Scott Parker out.

Michael: Terrible. Got to start a front man. Maybe it is time for Armando Broja to step up or it is back to the Championship.

Shaun: Absolutely rubbish - no communication and no team spirit. Chelsea destroyed them and deserved the win.

Dougie: Pleased to note that Turf Moor has a Jimmy McIlroy stand. Outstanding player saw him a few times in Belfast playing for Northern Ireland. Wasn't a player on either side in this game fit to lace his boots.

Chelsea fans

John: Bang average against a relegation candidate, but a win is a win. We will have to improve to win our next few games against better opponents.

Scott: Yet again, Enzo Maresca's in-game management could easily have cost us this game with substitutions that invited pressure. It was only moments of player quality that got us the three points, and the fact that Burnley are very poor.

Julian: For quite a bit of the game, it seemed many of Chelsea's players were suffering from an international hangover. However, that second goal gets better every time I watch it. Three points in what could have been a banana skin of a fixture.

Chris: Another average performance to overcome Burnley. Marc Cucurella was brilliant again, but why does Maresca insist on playing Liam Delap ahead of MArc Guiu? He seems to have his 'favourites' who play whenever, and we can't afford that attitude. We will see how good we are, or how good Maresca thinks we are, next Sunday against Arsenal.

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Rob Green join host Mark Chapman to bring you the action and talking points from Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Newcastle 2-1 Manchester City

• Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest

• Fulham 1-0 Sunderland

Nizaar Kinsella
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

When this weekend is over Burnley will likely be among the bottom three teams in the league.

Wins over Sunderland, Leeds and Wolves showed they are capable of beating fellow promoted sides or relegation-threatened teams on their day, but questions remain about their underlying quality, particularly in both boxes, given their other results.

Burnley conceded late goals against Manchester United and Liverpool earlier in the season, but were well beaten on Saturday.

Chelsea dominated after Burnley failed to capitalise on a bright start in front of their own fans.

Anthony was too ponderous when presented with chances to shoot and saw two efforts blocked, while crosses failed to find their mark and Flemming blazed his only chance over.

It was a familiar story for Burnley, who played well at West Ham before the international break only to succumb to set-piece goals.

Flemming had been on a run of three goals in four matches beforehand, but there appears to be a lack of firepower at the Lancashire club.

That lack of quality may ultimately mean Burnley are relegated again despite their best efforts under manager Scott Parker.

Burnley manager Scott Parker to BBC Match of the Day: "I thought we were brilliant first half and we created a couple of very good chances. On another day, you put one of them away. Overall I thought the first half was a really good performance; we were intense. Second half we changed a little bit. The facts are you're playing against a quality team. Momentum in sport is something you can't define. We fell short a little bit in terms of that clinical edge.

"I wasn't looking for much more if I'm being honest. I'd have loved to have reproduced the first half performance. We stayed in the game. At times it was difficult, but like I said, overall, from where we were last week to today, we've improved massively. I'm happy with the performance, but I say that lightly because we didn't get the result.

"I'm not being negative in any way. We understand the fine margins in this division are massive. The fine margins are going to be massive. We will improve that. We've got an unbelievable group that keeps improving, and I can see that."

Burnley goalkeeper Martin Dubravka speaking to TNT Sports: "We haven't seen the manager yet, and it is a mix of emotions. They were clinical with their chances.

"The second goal, there was more disappointment because we were still in the game and pushing. We didn't create too many chances today and didn't score a goal.

"I think we have some possessions and some very good actions. We were missing something in the final third. They have a good team. We stick with the plan and tried to be brave, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

"Every point counts at the end of the season, and hopefully we can get a better result (in the next game)."

Did you know?

• Burnley have lost three of their last five home league games (W1 D1), having gone unbeaten in their previous 24. It's the first time they've lost back-to-back league matches at Turf Moor since their final two games of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign.

• Across spells in charge of Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley, Scott Parker has never come from behind to win a Premier League match (P42 D4 L38), the most games a manager has trailed in without ever coming back to win in the competition's history.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Burnley's performance

What did you make of Chelsea's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies