Tottenham will allow 19-year-old forward Will Lankshear to leave on loan before Monday's transfer deadline, with Burnley, Middlesbrough, West Brom, Cardiff and Luton keen on the England Under-20 international. (Football.London), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column.
Portsmouth have lost their past two games and saw their seven-game unbeaten run at Fratton Park ended by Millwall on Tuesday night.
Pompey welcome promotion-chasing Burnley on Saturday afternoon, who are one point off the top two and unbeaten in their past 16 games (W9 D7).
After remaining unbeaten across their ten league games against Burnley between 1995 and 2010, Portsmouth have since won just one of their past five against the Clarets (D1 L3).
Burnley have won their past two away league games against Portsmouth and will be looking to win three in succession at Fratton Park for the first time.
Portsmouth have won each of their past four home league matches and will be looking to win five in a row in the second tier for the first time since February/March 2003 (5).
Burnley are unbeaten across their past eight away league games (W6 D2), keeping seven clean sheets in the process. The Clarets last enjoyed a longer undefeated run on the road between December 2022 and September 2023 (14 games) during which they were promoted to the Premier League.
Josh Brownhill has netted nine goals for Burnley in the Championship this season, already his most in a single league campaign in English football. Indeed, his five away goals are also his most in a league season to date.
Burnley are keen on 22-year-old NEC Nijmegen winger Sontje Hansen for a fee of around £3.5m. (Sky Sports), external
Middlesbrough's move for former Leeds midfielder Glen Kamara could be off, with the Finland international, who has also been linked with Sunderland and Burnley, now reportedly ready to move to Saudi side Al Shabab. (Northern Echo, external)
Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column.
Image source, Rex FeaturesMaxime Esteve joined Burnley permanently in July after a loan spell
Burnley's stunning defensive record this season is a credit to the whole team, says defender Maxime Esteve.
The Clarets have only conceded nine goals in their 29 Championship games and kept 20 clean sheets.
"We worked during pre-season defensively and you see the recovery runs of everyone - the winger, the striker, the midfielder, everyone works on the same thing," Esteve told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"The attitude of everyone is amazing, it's team work."
Burnley held the leaders Leeds to a goalless draw on Monday and are in third place in the Championship table, one point outside the automatic promotion places.
The Clarets visit struggling Portsmouth on Saturday.
"There is the backline when you talk about it defensively but when you see the game, all the players work on the same side," added Esteve.
"If you come back with three points from Portsmouth it's a good point against Leeds so we have to switch on."
Image source, OptaFrom 12 shots on total between the two sides, Dan James' 89th-minute effort was the only attempt to hit the target
Monday's uneventful goalless draw between Burnley and Leeds produced the second lowest expected goals [xG] of any Championship match so far this season.
According to Opta, Burnley's four attempts in total added up to an xG of 0.18 while Leeds' eight shots equated to 0.35 xG, creating a total match xG of just 0.53 across the 90 minutes at Turf Moor.
Dan James' 89th-minute strike, which had to be tipped over by Burnley's James Trafford, prevented the stalemate from being the first second-tier clash to end without an effort on target this season.
Despite the drab affair, Luton's 0-0 draw with Preston in Matt Bloomfield's first match in charge of the Hatters earlier this month produced an xG even lower than Monday's top-of-the-table clash - just 0.49 from 11 shots in total.
Notably, November's Steel City derby saw Tyrese Campbell score the winner for Sheffield United against bitter rivals Wednesday with the match's only shot on target from a game which produced a comparatively gluttonous 18 attempts in all.
Along with Sunderland, Burnley are the only Championship side with an unbeaten home record as they prepare to host table-topping Leeds United (20:00 GMT).
The Clarets also boast the best home defensive record with only four goals conceded in their 13 games at Turf Moor.
The visitors are the top scorers in the Championship with 53 goals from their 28 matches. Daniel Farke's side have only failed to score in four league games this season.
Burnley have won just one of their past five league games against Leeds United (D1 L3), although that sole victory did come during the reverse fixture in September (1-0).
Leeds United are unbeaten across their past two away league games against Burnley (W1 D1), last enjoying a longer undefeated run at Turf Moor between September 1975 and October 2005 (four games).
Burnley are unbeaten across their past 13 home league games (W6 D7), conceding just four goals in total across that time. The Clarets last enjoyed a longer undefeated run at Turf Moor between August 2022 and April 2023 (21 games).
Leeds have lost just two of their past 13 away league games (W5 D6), though have scored just 1.4 goals on average per match during that time.
Leeds' Joel Piroe has been involved in four goals in his past three away league games (three goals, one assist), more than he had in his previous 17 on the road (three goals).
Image source, Rex FeaturesBurnley boss Scott Parker has hinted that the Clarets might move some players on before the end of the transfer window - and has not ruled out new signings either.
Ashley Barnes returned to the club early in January, Peruvian full-back Oliver Sonne also arrived and Jonjo Shelvey signed a short-term deal.
Parker has also seen a swathe of players departing on loan, but may not be done yet.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "We've still got a biggish squad, plenty of numbers.
"I'm not going to rush into anything, if there is something to be done which could improve us and fit into this group, then for sure we'll try to do that.
"I think we'll be more reactive to how things go with maybe some players leaving and maybe something comes out of somewhere which could be of interest. If so, we'll look at that when it arises."
Newcastle retain an interest in Burnley's English goalkeeper James Trafford, 22. (The I), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column.
Image source, Rex FeaturesBurnley's 5-0 drubbing of Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Wednesday means that they now hold the joint record for the most clean sheets and least goals conceded at this point in the season across EFL history.
The Clarets have let slip just nine goals so far, with keeper James Trafford keeping an incredible 19 clean sheets out of their 28 Championship games.
If Trafford manages to keep clean sheets for the rest of the season, NFL legend J.J. Watt has made a deal, external with Burnley's number one that he will come out of retirement to join up with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Just the 18 games to go then!
Burnley's Flemming and Laurent on their doubles against Plymouth
Burnley midfielders Zian Flemming and Josh Laurent both scored twice to help the Clarets to a thumping 5-0 thrashing of basement dwellers Plymouth Argyle.
Of the top four Championship clubs, Burnley have the lowest tally of goals with 36, while league leaders Leeds United have scored the most with 53.
But the win over Argyle was the second time they have managed five goals in a match this season, having beaten Cardiff City by the same score in August.
"It's lovely to get so many goals on the scoresheet, that's something we've lacked a little bit this season," Flemming told BBC Radio Lancashire after the match.
"It's something that we knew that we can do but it's obviously nice that it happened tonight."
Laurent's double also marked the 29-year-old's first goals for the club since arriving from Stoke City in August.
For the Englishman, it has been a long time coming.
"I just follow the patterns and trust my team-mates as always," Laurent said.
"I probably owed the boys, I've missed a few sitters so happy I got a few tonight."
Image source, Rex FeaturesBurnley head coach Scott Parker spoke to BBC Sport following their 5-0 win at Plymouth.
"I thought we were superb tonight," he said.
"We came here with a real clear idea and a game plan. We set that up as coaches, it's down to players to then execute and the players were absolutely first class.
"We needed to come here with a mentality and mindset about us, this is a tough place to come, I know people look at league tables and may see a very different story.
"But a new manager in, an aggressive team, I played against this coach once in Belgium and had some struggles in a sense of how he sets up teams, so I knew the challenge here.
"We were just ruthless tonight. I thought we had everything about us."
Scott Read
BBC Radio Lancashire
Image source, Rex FeaturesWith 10 minutes still to play in the first half at Home Park, Scott Parker was walking calmy back and forth along the touchline, a few paces one way and then a few back, his hands in his pockets, his green jacket keeping him warm, as it has done so far this winter.
His team had just scored a third goal, the first time since August they'd scored more than twice in league game.
By half-time they'd scored two more. The game was over at the break.
A team which has been built on solid foundations, just nine goals against in 28 games so far. Solid foundations and the rest will follow, at least that's the theory. Tonight it was, empathically.
Ruthless in front of goal, the gulf between the two sides was stark.
Unlike the gulf between the top four, there is currently nothing in it.
The top four have all won in this midweek round of fixtures.
Perhaps its points against each other that might be the difference between finishing in the top two, and missing out.
It's Leeds United next for Burnley on Monday night.
Leeds United are interested in Burnley attacking midfielder Mike Tresor, who has also been linked with a move to Dutch side Ajax. (Sports Witness, external)
Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Wednesday's gossip here.
Plymouth Argyle are five points adrift from safety at the bottom of the Championship following a 1-0 defeat at home to QPR on Saturday, which extended their winless run in the league to 13 games (D6 L7).
New boss Miron Muslic is still searching for his first league win with the Pilgrims, who welcome promotion-chasing Burnley to Home Park.
Clarets goalkeeper James Trafford saved two penalty kicks from Wilson Isidor in the closing stages of their last game against Sunderland to secure a goalless draw and extend their unbeaten run to 14 games (W8 D6).
Scott Parker's side also boast a formidable defensive record, keeping 18 clean sheets in 27 games, conceding nine goals so far.
Plymouth have lost one of their past eight home EFL games against Burnley (W4 D3 L1), though that defeat did come in the most recent such meeting in March 2009 (1-2).
Burnley have won each of their past two league games against Plymouth and will be looking to win three successive such games for the first time since October 1937.
Plymouth have won two of their 18 midweek league games since their promotion to the Championship in 2023 (W2 D6 L10), though 10 of those 12 points have come at Home Park (W2 D4 L3).
Burnley are unbeaten in each of their past seven away league games (W5 D2), keeping a clean sheet in six of those matches.
Burnley's Zian Flemming has netted three goals in his past four away league appearances in the Championship, while he both scored and assisted in his only previous league game at Home Park with Millwall in October 2023.
