Burnley

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Burnley boss Scott Parker says the midfield options he has available have given him a "good problem" ahead of Saturday's trip to Stoke City.

The Clarets comfortable 2-0 victory over Coventry City on Tuesday saw them pick up their third consecutive league win and the former England international has admitted the team's recent performances have left him with a selection headache.

"I’m very happy, I think there’s a real balance there in terms of attributes in the different players," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"There’s decisions to be made in terms of game profile and what we need."

Parker selected Hannibal Mejbri and Josh Laurent on Tuesday but can also rely on Josh Cullen and club captain Josh Brownhill to anchor the midfield on Saturday - the latter expected to be passed fit for the trip to Staffordshire.

"Hannibal’s come out the team and then come back in the team the last couple of games and done extremely well, he brings a different energy," Parker added.

"Along with the other boys Josh Laurent, and the ones who have been mainstays for large parts, so, good problems for me to have certainly and it gives us a real depth in our squad in them areas."

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Burnley boss Scott Parker hopes influential skipper Josh Brownhill could be back for Saturday's trip to Stoke.

The Clarets are two points off the top and on a run of three straight wins and four clean sheets ahead of their trip to the Bet365 Stadium.

Five-goal leading scorer Brownhill had played every minute of 15 Championship matches until Saturday's win at his former club Bristol City, when he went off after 84 minutes with an apparent knock.

He subsequently missed Tuesday night's win over Coventry at Turf Moor, with Josh Laurent taking his place in midfield.

Parker told the club website, external: "Josh trained on the grass today. After the weekend’s game it probably came a little too early to play him on Tuesday.

"He has progressed well, but we will see where we are on Friday and make a call on that."

"There's good signs with a few of the lads, Joe Worrall, Lyle Foster and Hannes Delcroix are all progressing nicely and have been out on the grass.

"It's just about getting game time now, which is key for them. Getting minutes for the 21s and then building that back up to match fitness."

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Burnley defender CJ Egan-Riley says he did not mean his fortuitous goal which wrapped up the Clarets' 2-0 win against Coventry City on Tuesday.

The goal - a dinked left-footed effort across goal which crept in at the far post - sealed three points for Scott Parker's side and sent them second in the Championship table.

"I'd love to say I meant it but I didn't. I tried to stand it up to the back post and put it in a good area and it's ended up in the back of the net," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"It's good to extend the lead, especially then as you never know what could happen at 1-0 into the last 10 minutes.

"We needed to keep the back door shut which we did, which is a positive."

Burnley have conceded just six goals in 17 Championship games this term, something boss Scott Parker credits to their squad values, but he is pleased with the 21-year-old's progress.

Egan-Riley's goal against the Sky Blues was his first in senior football having made 54 appearances for the Clarets, Manchester City and on loan at Hibernian and Jong PSV.

"I agree that it was definitely a cross but it goes in and it's perfect," Parker added.

"I'm really pleased for him. He's been incredible since he came in. The boy needed an opportunity.

"All I've done is give it to him. It's down to the player to go and grab it. He's done that with both hands and been incredible."

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Burnley head coach Scott Parker has said he believes the fans are the bedrock of the club ahead of Tuesday's Championship clash with Coventry City.

Parker's side currently sit fourth in the Championship, just two points below the automatic promotion places, and Parker has taken time to emphasise the importance of the club's fans to his players.

“I often say it to the players at 3pm or 7:45, whatever time that game is, we walk out and cross that line with one sole purpose and that’s to try and please our fans,” Parker told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Football gravitates to everyone - it connects people, it brings people together and I understand with every single bit of it what it means to every fan base."

Over 1,400 Burnley fans were in attendance to see the Clarets' 1-0 win at Bristol City on Saturday- their 10th clean sheet of the Championship season already.

"I understand what it means to every single Burnley fan, the local people, they’re the bedrock of this club.

"They’re the mainstays. Managers come and go, players come and go, what always stays and what is always consistent is a fan base," he added.

Coventry City may be without a manager but the Sky Blues fared well during their 2-2 comeback against promotion contenders Sheffield United on the weekend - and will hoping to put in another strong performance as they visit 4th place Burnley on Tuesday.

The Clarets, though, have only lost one of their last 13 league games (W6 D6) to leave them just two points behind league leaders Leeds United and possess a particularly strong record against the visitors.

• Burnley have only lost one of their last 10 league games against Coventry City (W6 D3), a 1-0 away defeat in November 2010.

• Coventry are winless in their last five league visits to Burnley (D3 L2) since a 2-1 win on the final day of the 2006-07 season.

• Burnley are looking to keep five successive home clean sheets in the league for the first time since August 2009 (6), while they last did so in the same season in January 2005 in the Championship.

• After earning just three points in eight away league games between April and October (D3 L5), Coventry have collected five points from their last three such games (W1 D2).

• Burnley manager Scott Parker’s only previous season against Coventry came in 2021-22 in the Championship in charge of Bournemouth, drawing 2-2 at home and winning 3-0 away.

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Burnley's clean sheet in their 1-0 win at Bristol City means they have now only conceded six goals in their opening 16 Championship league fixtures.

Scott Parker's side limited Bristol City to two shots on target on Saturday despite giving up 52% of possession.

Jaidon Anthony's first-half strike was enough to take all three points at Ashton Gate and move the Clarets up to third in the league.

Burnley have now registered 10 clean sheets in the league and have not conceded more than one goal in any of their matches this season.

The six conceded are the fewest at this stage of a second-tier campaign since Manchester United in 1924-25.

Saturday's win also signalled Burnley's third clean sheet in a row following a 0-0 stalemate at West Brom and a 1-0 victory over Swansea City before the international break.

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Burnley head coach Scott Parker has stated he aims to be the club's "umbrella" as his side prepare to embark on a key set of Championship fixtures.

The former England international has overseen a good start to the Championship campaign with the Clarets currently sitting fourth in the league after 15 matches.

Burnley take on Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday (12:30 GMT) before hosting Coventry City and then travelling to Stoke City inside eight days to start what will be an important run into the festive period.

"Its my job as leader of this team and this group of men, to be that umbrella to protect that and produce stability," Parker told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I've been in this arena, I've been in this environment, I've led teams and I know too well how stability and the stableness of a young group is my job.

"The emotional rollercoaster of what life, what professional sport brings in our context, what the Championship brings - we need to stay very stable as an organisation and as a group."

The 44-year-old also heaped praise on club captain Josh Brownhill who is set to take on his former club at Ashton Gate at the weekend.

"He represents probably everything that we stand for and, yeah, I've been nothing but impressed with him- true leader in that sense," Parker added.

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Bristol City welcome promotion-chasing Burnley on Saturday having lost just one of their last 10 matches (W4 D5) - a 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United in their most recent game at Ashton Gate.

The Clarets have only suffered defeat once in 12 games (W5 D6) and are just four points off the automatic promotion spots ahead of this weekend's Championship action.

• Bristol City have lost each of their last six league games against Burnley, as many defeats as across their prior 21 meetings with the Clarets combined.

• Burnley have won each of their last three away league games against Bristol City, scoring 2+ goals in each of those visits to Ashton Gate.

• Burnley have only conceded six goals in 15 Championship matches this season, the joint fewest by a team in their first 15 matches in a Championship campaign (since 2004-05) along with QPR in 2010-11.

• Bristol City’s Nahki Wells has scored four goals in his last five Championship appearances, only one fewer than he scored in his previous 24 games combined (5).

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Goalkeeper James Trafford was an unused sub for England in their 3-0 win in Greece and 5-0 thrashing of Republic of Ireland in the Nations League at Wembley on Sunday.

Trafford's Clarets team-mate Josh Cullen played 76 minutes in midfield for the Republic of Ireland against the Three Lions, as well as the whole game in a 1-0 win at home to Finland on Thursday.

England won Group B2 to secure promotion to League A, while Ireland finished third and now face a play-off in March next year to decide whether they stay in League B or are relegated to League C.

Right-back Connor Roberts was part of the Wales squad that secured an incredible return to the Nations League's top tier and played the entirety of their 0-0 draw in Turkey. He was also a last-minute sub in the 4-1 win over Iceland.

Elsewhere, midfielder Hannibal Mejbri played 26 minutes for Tunisia in a 3-2 win against Madagascar in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier but didn't feature in the 1-0 defeat at home to Gambia.

In the same competition, Andreas Hountondji played eight minutes for Benin in their 1-1 draw with Nigeria and 11 minutes of a goalless encounter against Libya.

Jeremy Sarmiento, who is on loan from Brighton, came on for the last 22 minutes of Ecuador's 4-0 World Cup qualifier victory over Bolivia but wasn't in the squad for the 1-0 win in Colombia.

Fourth-placed Burnley travel to Bristol City in the Championship on Saturday looking to continue their quest for an instant return to the Premier League.

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Burnley are having a "really good start to the season", according to BBC Radio Lancashire commentator Scott Reid.

The Clarets are fourth in the Championship table, four points outside the automatic promotion spots and have lost just once in their last 12 games, amid considerable squad turnover following Premier League relegation.

"I say that because of the challenges Scott Parker has had," Reid told BBC Radio Bristol's Sound of the City show ahead of the Clarets' visit to Ashton Gate on Saturday.

"The squad he has got now is not the squad he had when the season started. They've had 17 players leaving and 16 players arriving, so they've had a huge turnover of players since Parker came in.

"I think when you factor in that he's basically having to piece together a new team and try and get results, it represents a really good start by him."

Wilson Odobert, Vitinho, Dara O’Shea, Wout Weghorst and Luke McNally are just some of the players who started the season at Turf Moor but left before the end of the summer transfer window.

But while Burnley's consistency has kept them in contention, they've been slightly held back by a lack of wins and goals; they rank 11th overall for goals scored (18) and their six draws is the joint-second highest in the division.

"Undoubtedly, they're not scoring anywhere near the volume of goals they would want and being as creative as Burnley fans would like them to be," Reid added.

"But they went to Luton on the opening day of the season and scored four times and the following game they scored five times, so you're thinking it's a free-scoring Burnley side, a bit like [Vincent] Kompany's Burnley side.

"But those two opening games of the season, what he's got now is not that squad.

"Those players have gone, so I think he's had to be just a little bit cautious, make them difficult to beat, make them organised, which is what they are.

"It's not been an easy watch at times but the Burnley supporters are hoping the groundwork is in place for them to be a little bit more open and attacking as the season progresses."

Listen to Scott Reid discussing Burnley on BBC Sounds here.

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Hjalmar Ekdal and Nathan Redmond both featured for Burnley's under-21s on Friday lunchtime as the pair continue their recoveries from long-term injuries.

Defender Ekdal was stretchered off with a torn hamstring during Sweden's friendly defeat by Denmark in June and is yet to feature for Burnley's first team this season.

Redmond's last first-team appearance was in a 1-0 Premier League loss at Tottenham in January.

A training ground injury and subsequent surgery has kept the midfielder sidelined.

Burnley's under-21s beat Blackburn's youngsters 3-1 with Ekdal and Redmond playing the first 45 minutes before both were substituted.

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There are six Burnley players who have been called up for senior international duty this week:

• James Trafford for England

• Josh Cullen for Republic of Ireland

• Hannibal for Tunisia

• Jeremy Sarmiento for Ecuador

• Andreas Hountondji for Benin

• Connor Roberts for Wales

You can keep up to date with how they are getting on using our scores and fixtures list as well as follow England, Wales and Republic of Ireland's matches live on the BBC Sport website and Radio 5 Live.