Burnley

Two changes made by Vito Pereira from their 2-0 loss to Sunderland, as Ki-Jana Hoever comes in for Matt Doherty, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde replaces Joao Gomes.

Wolves XI: Johnstone, Hoever, S Bueno, Krejci, H Bueno, Andre, Bellegarde, Munetsi, Arias, R Gomes, Strand Larsen.

Subs: Wolfe, Tchatchoua, Agbadou, Toti, J Gomes, Lopez, Hwang, Arokodare, Sa

Meanwhile, Scott Parker sticks with the same Burnley starting line-up that beat Leeds United last week.

Burnley XI: Dubravka, Walker, Hartman, Esteve, Tuanzebe, Ugochukwu, Florentino, Flemming, Cullen, Larsen, Anthony

Subs: Ekdal, Pires, Laurent, Edwards, Broja, Foster, Tchaouna, Mejbri, Weiss

Wolves have to win eventually and at home to Burnley feels like the game it really has to happen for them - their fans will definitely be thinking that.

Burnley will be eyeing victory too, though. They will take great encouragement from their win over Leeds last time out, and they could do Wolves a lot of damage if they beat them.

All things considered, it would be easy to go for a draw, but I am going to back Wolves to break their duck.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Sophie Trifonoff
BBC Sport journalist

Bottom club Wolves host a Burnley team buoyed by their win over Leeds last weekend.

Despite sitting bottom of the Premier League table with just two points after the opening eight games, it is not all doom and gloom for Wolves.

Vitor Pereira's side are without a league win since April, when they defeated Leicester 3-0 in a run of six successive victories. Since then, they have lost to two of the newly promoted sides this season, with the third - Burnley - as their next opponents.

There is increasing pressure on Pereira, with the Portuguese currently the bookmakers' favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked - despite signing a new contract a month ago.

But this situation is nothing new for Wolves. At this stage last season, they had only one point in eight games under Gary O'Neil. They picked up eight more points in as many matches before Pereira was brought in, with Wolves going on to avoid relegation and finish 16th.

Since the start of the Premier League era, 13 teams have picked up two points or fewer in their first eight games of a season. Five of those avoided relegation - including Wolves last season.

The highest finish for one of those teams came in 2008-09, when Tottenham recovered to come eighth.

Pereira has called the Burnley match a "must win" for his side but he has continued to back his players - and himself.

"Honestly, if for one minute I feel my players are not with me, it's finished. For me, that's the end," he said.

"It's painful and I'm worried but I see a team connected mentally with good spirit, with character, trying their best to change the situation."

In the previous two Premier League seasons, all three promoted sides went on to get relegated each time. But there is a different feeling around this season's newcomers, who have the highest combined points tally (29) of any promoted trio in the past 10 seasons.

Sunderland began this round of fixtures in seventh, with Leeds and Burnley earning two wins each.

Burnley may only be 17th with seven points, but Scott Parker's side have faced some heavyweight opposition in Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. They have also beaten both of their fellow promoted sides with 2-0 wins at Turf Moor.

Their record on the road, however, is another matter. Burnley have lost all four of their away matches this season, conceding 13 goals.

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Burnley boss Scott Parker has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Wolves at Molineux (kick-off 14:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Parker confirmed they have "no fresh injury news" with forward Lyle Foster "back in contention" having trained with the team this week.

• The Clarets boss feels the "best part of any football club is the next day after three points" as he reflected on their second win of the season against Leeds last weekend: "We know how difficult it is to do. [It has been] massively positive around the place and I was really pleased after a good performance."

• He said Burnley "need to produce the same level" again but there are still "elements to improve", adding: "I have seen in this group there is a real honesty; a hard work, full focus commitment and desire that gets you far. That will get us far this year. Add that to the quality and a fresh, young team we have then that can help us."

• On the change of shape against Leeds: "Really pleased with that. More pleased with all the players who worked on the different shape and were flexible. It was a real compliment to them that they executed that and, in a limited amount of time, got clear understanding of what we wanted. We are in a time when we can vary whether we go back three or back four. I'm not sure it will stay, but we know we can use that."

• On if being high up in statistics for long balls matters if a team is winning: "I don't think so, if you are winning. Fundamentally, your main objective needs to be to win. You can have the best stats ever but questions will still be asked if you are not winning. If you have the most possession then people ask if you need to play long more if you are not winning. There is always context to these things."

• Parker agreed that getting a first win away from home would be the next psychological hurdle for the team to overcome: "Winning away from home is tough. For sure, it will be an extra driver for us. We are in a good place, have had good results and now need to try to get our first away result - that will be key for us."

• Players contributing goals from different areas of the pitch will be "key" for Burnley, and Parker praised midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu after his recent goals: "He has got that in his game. He is technically very good, arrives in the box and has presence about him. His goals epitomised that."

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

Listen to live commentary of Wolves v Burnley on Sunday from 14:00 GMT on Sports Extra 3 on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Lancashire (95.5, 103.9, 104.5FM and DAB) from 13:45

Image source, Getty Images

You have been sending in your questions as part of our "Ask about Burnley" service, using this form.

Roger enquired about the fitness of Jordan Beyer, who has not played for the club for nearly two years.

We put that to BBC Radio Lancashire's Scott Read:

As I understand it Jordan suffered an inner meniscus (knee) injury in a game against Luton Town in October 2023 and was out for about a month.

He then returned and played nine more Premier League matches that season.

The injury flared back up and his final appearance came against Aston Villa when he lasted 17 minutes on 30 December 2023.

He underwent surgery the following year and played no part in the promotion winning season under Scott Parker.

This summer, he played a friendly game in pre-season for 20 minutes and told Burnley FC's website that: "It feels incredible - I'm close to tears"

However, Scott Parker confirmed last week that he has suffered a further setback in his recovery and did not give a timescale for his return..

Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.

We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.

Find out more here

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

Here are some of your comments:

Burnley fans

Gazo: What a win. Sometimes you have to win ugly but once again defensively we showed our resilience. Another flawless display by Martin Dubravka. Superb goals to win the game too.

Shaun: What a performance from Kyle Walker. His reading of the game is immense and the interception and run forward before our second goal was superb.

Winnie: A mixture that showed training had made vast improvements, accompanied by good luck (e.g. Leeds hitting the woodwork) and sheer total brilliance in the two goals. Dubravka and Walker displayed their class. All in all, each player had a good day on the same day -as we know this is not always the case. Now we know Burnley can do it and Scott Parker can help with the team's consistency. That's the key.

Leeds fans

Stephen: Probably the worst performance so far this season. We didn't close down as fast as the opposition, we weren't as clean with our passing and we didn't get back and defend like they did.

Mark: This is NOT good enough. Dominating possession counts for absolutely nothing when the opposition are comfortable, and Burnley were very comfortable. If Farke can't find a way to make that squad more incisive and braver in the final third, then Leeds need to find a manager that can. Quickly.

Ron: In the transfer window, Leeds got two strikers on frees - never was the saying "you get what you pay for" more appropriate. In defence and midfield, they went for players with height and "physical presence", but so far there has been no sign of aerial dominance either at the front or the back. The future looks ominous!

Pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards join host Gabby Logan 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:

• Manchester City 2-0 Everton

• Crystal Palace 3-3 Bournemouth

• Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

Scott Parker spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Burnley's victory against Leeds: "I thought the performance was everything we planned. They are a hugely competitive team and we experienced that last year, we went toe to toe with Leeds throughout last year. I thought our performance was everything we needed to take three points.

"We've tried to be flexible in our structures and we have worked tirelessly to do that. We swapped to a back four today and tried to have more attackers on the pitch and first half we took our moments and got a good goal. Second half we had to suffer a little bit and again you go into reserves when you need to dig a bit deep to get the result and the second goal gave us some oxygen. I'm immensely proud of the team.

"We spent a long ten days during the international break highlighting times where we have fallen short on that [concentration]. One thing you can never point a finger at this team for, and I will never point the finger for this, is effort, desire, passion and commitment. These players give that every single week.

"We have probably lacked a bit of nous at times in certain moments but today that game was every bit of that. I don't care what coach is standing here, when there is 10-15 minutes to go in that game there isn't a plan. You can't influence it from the sidelines. You need your players to understand what's needed. You can bring the best structures and formations in the world, the facts are that you need players to go to places that you can't coach."

Did you know?

Lesley Ugochukwu has scored in consecutive Premier League appearances (two goals), having only scored once in his first 43 appearances for Chelsea, Southampton and the Clarets combined.

Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Burnley have looked good in spells this season, but a run of four defeats in five league games left them desperate for three points against the side who beat them to the Championship title on goal difference last season.

Manager Scott Parker not only made three changes from the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa, but also switched to a back four for the first time this term - a move that paid off as his team kept Leeds at bay after half-time to claim victory.

Burnley's first-half opener was chiefly down to Kyle Walker's magnificent inswinging delivery into Lesley Ugochukwu, who was left with the simple task of guiding the ball inside Karl Darlow's right-hand post from close range.

But a number of Burnley players looked much more comfortable in Parker's new system, including 21-year-old Ugochukwu and holding midfielders Josh Cullen and Florentino, whose distribution was excellent throughout.

The home side failed to register an attempt between Ugochukwu's opener and Loum Tchaouna's second-half screamer - a venomous 30-yard shot into the top corner - but a second clean sheet of the season was very much a step in the right direction for a side who conceded only 16 times in the Championship last term.

The hard-fought win lifts Burnley above Nottingham Forest and out of the bottom three.

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

What did you make of Burnley's display?

Have your say on Leeds' performance

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Scott Parker makes three changes to the Burnley side that lost at Aston Villa before the international break.

Zian Flemming, Lesley Ugochukwu and Jacob Bruun Larsen come in, while Jaiden Anthony is fit to start after suffering a knock at Villa Park a fortnight ago.

Loum Tchaouna and Josh Laurent are among the substitutes, but Lyle Foster misses out after suffering a dead leg on international duty with South Africa.

Burnley XI: Dubravka, Walker, Ugochukwu, Tuanzebe, Esteve, Hartman, Bruun Larsen, Cullen, Florentino, Anthony, Flemming

Subs: Weiss, Edwards, Tchaouna, Ekdal, Pires, Broja, Mejbri, Laurent, Barnes

Daniel Farke makes one alteration to the Leeds team that lost at home to Tottenham Hotspur in their last league game.

Jack Harrison replaces Noah Okafor, who misses out with an adductor injury.

Daniel James and Lucas Perri are back on the Leeds bench after recovering from respective ankle and muscle injuries.

Leeds XI: Darlow, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson, Longstaff, Ampadu, Stach, Aaronson, Calvert-Lewin, Harrison

Subs: Perri, James, Piroe, Nmecha, Bijol, Tanaka, Bornauw, Justin, Gruev

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

• Nottingham Forest v Chelsea (12:30)

• Brighton v Newcastle

• Burnley v Leeds United

• Crystal Palace v Bournemouth

• Man City v Everton - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

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

• Fulham v Arsenal (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 BST 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 Fulham v Arsenal", for instance.

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

Burnley have been a bit unlucky to lose four out of four on the road so far, but they really need to get something at home, especially against another promoted team.

The Clarets beat Sunderland at Turf Moor at the start of the season, which is their only league win to date.

Scott Parker's side have been competitive in most of their other games too but so have Leeds, who have scored the same amount of goals as Burnley - seven - but feel like they carry a bit more of a threat.

This is going to be very tight. I don't like going for too many draws, but this fixture finished 0-0 in the Championship last season and I am going for the same outcome this time.

Sutton's prediction: 0-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Burnley and Leeds battled it out for the Championship title last season - now they face each other at Turf Moor in a Premier League clash which could have implications come the end of the season.

BBC Sport takes a look at some of the key themes ahead of their meeting.

This may only be Burnley and Leeds' eighth league game of the season, but this game between two promoted sides already has the whiff of a crucial six-pointer.

Leeds have made a better start to life back in the Premier League than Burnley so far, and will have spent the international break smarting from coming away with nothing from their last match against Tottenham.

Their narrow 2-1 defeat will have hurt given how well they competed against the Europa League winners. However, Spurs' extra bit of quality, shown by the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, proved to be the difference between the sides.

Where the goals are going to come from remains a hot topic for Leeds fans and a tally of just seven from seven top-flight games tells its own story. Winger Noah Okafor is their only player to score more than once this season, and while Dominic Calvert-Lewin has led the line well as the focal point of their attack, familiar questions remain about his ability to take chances.

Maximum points from this fixture and next week's home match with West Ham will be seen as a must by boss Daniel Farke, who has named the same starting XI in each of their last four matches.

For Burnley, one win from seven games represents a worrying start.

Only West Ham have conceded more top-flight goals than the Clarets' 15, which is remarkably only one less than Scott Parker's side let in across their 46 games in the Championship last season. They could become only the second side in Football League history after Liverpool in the 1894-95 campaign to concede their previous season's tally within their first eight games.

Two things Parker would like to see his side have more of is a) the ball and b) a lead. Their average possession stands at just 35.3%, while they have held a lead for an average of just eight per cent of their seven matches so far this season.

In mitigation, their fixture list has not been kind and they have faced Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.

They have been in contention in many of those games but Parker has bemoaned his side's lack of focus at crucial junctures:

"There is a theme at the moment," he said after the loss to Villa. "We were hugely competitive, but switched off in certain moments."

Their one win this season came against another promoted club in Sunderland, something they will be desperate to repeat against Leeds as they look to get their season up and running

One statistic that neither Farke or Parker will look upon fondly is that they occupy the bottom two spots for the lowest Premier League points-per-game average of any manager to have taken charge of 50 or more matches.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

When we look at how teams are defending so far this season, Arsenal and Newcastle have been so impressive because they are giving up both the fewest shots per game and the hardest chances to score on average.

But as the graphic shows, there are two teams that stand apart from all the rest for having key defensive problems: Manchester United and Burnley.

Image source, BBC Sport

If you look simply at the number of shots that teams are giving up, Manchester United look good defensively since only Arsenal and Newcastle are facing fewer than their 9.1 per game.

But not all shots are the same and Ruben Amorim's side are currently giving up by far the easiest chances to score in the league, averaging 0.16 xG per shot faced.

Burnley meanwhile are facing by far the most shots at 18.4 per game, four more than any other side, although thankfully for them the quality of those chances is not that high.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Burnley boss Scott Parker has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Leeds United at Turf Moor (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Parker confirmed that Zeki Amdouni is still "some time away" after his cruciate ligament injury but he is "moving in the right direction". Jordan Beyer will also not be "in contention for the foreseeable" after a set-back with his hamstring injury.

• Connor Roberts needing a "little longer" to recover is a "big setback" for the team, but there is "better news" on Lyle Foster, who withdrew from the South Africa national squad, as it "seems to be a dead leg".

• On the statement from the ownership after they completed a takeover of La Liga club Espanyol: "They are the comments of someone who is hugely ambitious. That ambition is clearly there and I sense that ambition. That ambition for me is no different. Sometimes you are part of that journey and an early part of it. They are the owners' ambitions, and when I sit down with him I've got my own ambitions as well for this football club."

• He added: "The main aim at first was to get out of the Championship and we did that. The next part and the ambition for us is to stay in this division. The longer part of that is down the road a little bit."

• Parker believes his side have given themselves "a brilliant opportunity" to meet their target of staying in the Premier League after facing "huge challenges" at the start. He said: "What gives me massive encouragement is how competitive we have been. There is still a lot of learning and we have fallen short a little bit. I don't think we've fallen short by wide margins, and we need to continue that - we need to keep learning and keep growing."

• On the key things his side need to improve on: "Looking back in the first group of games we have had, we have probably just lacked at certain moments in concentration and a focus. It is what has just let ourselves down. Maybe there is a focus there we need to highlight."

• The Burnley boss feels his side have "been a real threat in our way", despite questions around their goalscoring ability. Parker added: "I understand in the world we live in, and certainly the world I live in and us as players, you have one game where you may not be that threat or you have only had three shots and that gets magnified."

Catch up on all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Commentary on Saturday's game can be found on Radio Lancashire DAB and Freeview 712 with Dan Jewell and Glen Little

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League table is starting to take shape and while results are obviously what matter most, they don't tell the whole story in terms of how teams have been playing so far.

Expected goals (xG) tells us how much teams have been dominating games by creating lots of good chances up front and restricting opponents to few, bad ones at the back.

Penalties are excluded because they distort a team's numbers on how threatening or vulnerable they are in general, especially at this early stage.

Below is a graphic showing how good teams have been in attack and defence, with the most dominant teams in the top-right corner and the least impressive in the bottom-left corner.

Arsenal and Manchester City have been the most dominant sides, with the Gunners having the best defence and fourth-best attack and City the joint-best attack and fourth-best defence.

High-flying Crystal Palace are the only side to rival City's attacking threat, while Newcastle are living up to their name by being almost as impregnable at the back as Arsenal.

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have one of the top five attacks in the league but worryingly also rank in the bottom five defensively.

• Find and follow your Premier League club on BBC Sport

Liverpool's back-to-back defeats following five straight wins gives a more accurate picture of how they have been playing, while Tottenham have needed to be very efficient to make up for their lack of dominance in games.

Aston Villa's early-season struggles are no longer to do with finishing - they have now scored six non-penalty goals from an xG of 6.0 - but simply because they have not been playing well.

While promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland have adapted quite well to the top-flight, Burnley have struggled to make the jump so far with both the worst attack and the worst defence.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Natalie Bromley
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Burnley have had a horrendous set of fixtures to start off this Premier League campaign.

The Clarets have just four points from seven games, with those coming from a win against Sunderland and a draw against Nottingham Forest. Both at home.

We keep hearing about how much better both the Black Cats and Leeds are doing, but they have not had to face Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa.

I would suggest that Burnley are on exactly the number of points I expected them to be on at this stage of the season. There is no need to panic - certainly not yet, anyway!

We play Leeds next - at home - which is going to be the acid test. It is a game I hope will be significantly more entertaining than the tentative affair at Turf Moor during the Championship campaign, as neither side blinked in their quest for automatic promotion.

If we lose heavily to the Whites - which, to be clear, I don't believe we will - then I will concede that we are perhaps the most vulnerable of each of the promoted club.s Leeds will value a point at Turf Moor. The Clarets need three. Expect an open and proactive approach from Scott Parker's side.

The mood in the Burnley camp seems positive. The players appear to be enjoying the challenge, and Parker seems to have everyone's feet on the ground.

We are told that Marcus Edwards is close to a full return, which is welcome news. I spoke last week about the side lacking in a credible threat when they do manage to counter, and Edwards could well provide the spark we need to create more opportunities.

We also need strength from the bench - many of our mistakes in the latter stages of games have come from fatigue.

The more quality we can bring on for the final 10 minutes and injury time, the better!

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