Joe Pearson from Indianapolis sums it up. “This is dire. Not much of a satisfying appetizer for the coming main course.”
New to Liverpool v Manchester United, mate? Usually awful games.
Mary Waltz emails in: “On the Stateside feed, the crowd goes silent at certain moments and Americans are getting to hear individual Burnley fans thoughts on their team. I especially liked “now why would you ***ing do that. F***!”
Half-time: Burnley 0-1 Leicester
Leicester’s goal came amid a morass of poor play from each team. The interception from Dennis Praet was the best moment of the half, and Harvey Barnes’ finish decent enough. Sean Dyche is raging, and well he might. His team have been poor, but he thinks Jack Cork was fouled by Praet. He wasn’t.
45 min: Leicester free-kick, and Maddison whips it in. Mee gets there first before McNeil commits another foul, and Maddison gets another chance to deliver. This time, Perez heads over.
44 min: Schmeichel has to make a save but it is not much of one. Chris Wood’s header was straight at him when it would have been far better directed at Jay Rodriguez as he was making a belated run into the box.
42 min: Leicester playing some slow passes as they try to take the sting out of Burnley, who have not presented much of a threat. The home fans continue to complain about the referee, but their team’s performance is the true source of their ire.
40 min: James Maddison down? Does that continue the woes of England’s Euro 2016 squad? No, he seems to be ok. Phew.
38 min: Burnley have a free-kick, a set-piece to feed off, and it comes from the left. There is brief chaos in the Leicester box, then a ricochet then a goal kick.
37 min: Leicester have confidence and so does Harvey Barnes who releases Maddison with a fine pass. That forces a corner which is cleared.
34 min: Burnley yet to win a game in which they have conceded the first goal. That came against the run of play, in that there had been no run of play to speak of. It was a bad goal to concede. Cork says he was fouled by Praet but VAR says no.
Goal! Burnley 0-1 Leicester (Barnes, 33)
Dennis Praet slides in on Jack Cork and Barnes speeds on, with Jamie Vardy pulling defenders with him. Barnes goes on and his shot beats Pope, who was not too impressive in attempting to save that.
Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes scores. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images via Reuters
Updated
32 min: A shot, an actual shot. The ball is flicked to Rodriguez, and he shoots from a very long way out indeed. It is easily claimed by Kasper Schmeichel.
30 min: Harvey Barnes hassled into a mistake but Burnley cannot force anything from it. Phil Bardsley then launches himself over Barnes and ends up in a heap. He will be OK to carry on, though. He has a sore neck but is made of stern stuff.
28 min: A burst by Ricardo adds a brief amount of zest but he is stopped by Ben Mee. It’s pedestrian stuff. Then, Evans comes across to wallop a ball angled for Rodriguez out of play.
26 min: Soyuncu has to take evasive action when he charges across to hack clear when the ball was in danger of dropping to Chris Wood.
25 min: Leicester have a corner, which Maddison takes and Pope punches clear. The ball comes to Praet but he can’t make much of the opportunity.
23 min: Leicester have been patient to the point of looking a little leaden. Jamie Vardy has only made on burst as he is being kept watch by a Burnley defence that is sitting deep.
21 min: Chris Wood penalised for a foul on Evans. Seems to be some ref rage from the locals. Burnley have stepped this up a bit, look the more energetic team.
20 min: Leicester called upon to do some defending; Jonny Evans smells the danger when a ball is launched towards a waiting Ben Mee and then Kasper Schmeichel has to be first to the resultant corner. He does the same when McNeil whips in the next corner but Jack Cork is ruled to have baulked the Leicester goalie.
18 min: Dare I say that these teams look tired? Good thing that they will get a rest this week…oh, Leicester play West Ham and Burnley go to Old Trafford on Wednesday.
17 min: Jack Cork piles into a challenge on Praet. It was wild but the lack of contact meant there was no booking. He had left the ground, so was lucky to escape without a yellow.
15 min: Dennis Praet, in the team ahead of Tielemans, is at the centre of a patient build-up of a move that results in one of those trademark Burnley blocks. Burnley try to relieve the pressure but Wood and Rodriguez don’t appear to be on the same wavelength.
13 min: Perez is outnumbered by a phalanx of Burnley players. and that would appear to be the plan of action. The midfield is crowded but then Vardy springs on to a pass from deep, speeds past Wood, and then passes for Maddison to have chance to shoot. Instead, he takes an extra touch and loses the ball.
11 min: First roar of the home crowd after some neat skill from Hendrick but he then slows up and has his cross blocked by Fuchs.
9 min: This has not been great so far, with neither team looking in much nick. Burnley are taking their time over throw-ins and free-kicks.
8 min: Am proud to say that Christian Fuchs follows me on Twitter but he also follows 88,500 other people so maybe I shouldn’t be so proud. He’s taken over from Ben Chilwell for the day, and it has to be said that Chilwell has looked a little tired of late.
5 min: Barnes of Leicester has been lively and skips pass Hendrick, and it takes some hurried defending to clear Burnley’s lines.
3 min: Burnley have, on each occasion they have had the ball, launched it forward. Wood and Rodriguez almost linked up but the shot whips wide.
1 min: Burnley began with a long ball, funnily enough, and then Leicester quickly mount an attack with Harvey Barnes getting a shot in. That was allowed to happen rather too easily.
The game is afoot and Sean Dyche, of all people, is doing that talk behind the hand thing as he addresses the linesman in front of him.
Ahead of the match, a minute’s silence is being observed.
Burnley FC
(@BurnleyOfficial)In Memoriam.
Today, we reflect on the loss of all members of the Clarets’ family who passed away in 2019.
A one-minute silence will now take place to remember loved ones, sadly missed.
The following names will all appear on the big screen during this time of reflection. pic.twitter.com/pEpjf6oVty
Two facts worth mentioning: Ashley Barnes has had a hernia operation, and Leicester have lost three of their last five Premier League matches.
And Brendan Rodgers on the absence from his squad of Ben Chilwell.
Ben has played a lot for us this season, and this week he missed a bit of training…It’s an opportunity to get three points. We are in a good position in the league and we will need to focus and if we do the result will come.
Sean Dyche in pre-match on the return of Jay Rodriguez and Robbie Brady, in lieu of the continuing absence of Ashley Barnes.
It’s helpful, it’s good to see them coming back into the next group of game. They [Leicester] are a very good side, with good coaching, it’s not an easy task.
PA Media have the lowdown on those team selection for this match.
Jay Rodriguez returned for Burnley as they looked to end a run of four league defeats on the bounce at home to Champions League-chasing Leicester.
Rodriguez, who missed last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea through illness, started up front alongside Chris Wood in the continued absence of Ashley Barnes, while Phil Bardsley replaced Matt Lowton at right-back.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers made two changes after a 2-1 home defeat to Southampton, with Nampalys Mendy and Christian Fuchs replacing Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury.
Dyche and Rodgers worked together at Watford, with Brendan as manager for a brief spell and Dyche working with the youth team at the club he eventually managed. There is obviously warmth between the pair. Rodgers dished out the praise.
He is a guy I know well. He is a real student and a deep thinker of the game, and as a coach he is first class. He is very progressive, his teams have clarity in how they work, the players understand their roles, and he has them super-organised and committed. Like us all, in various sections of the league, there is a limit in terms of budget which gets you certain types of players. What he does is give confidence to the players he brings in, where it might not have worked out for them at other clubs. Absolutely no disrespect to Burnley, but if there was an opportunity at a higher level for him, then he could go on and do that, without any shadow of a doubt.
Ahead of this game, Sean Dyche spoke in his pre-match press conference and had some kind words for Leicester and Brendan Rodgers.
I like the manager and what he is trying to achieve there. They have invested heavily in the players but they are a younger group who are developing all the time with enough experience in key players in there as well. We are on a tough run of form, but I don’t think they are naive enough to think it is turn up and get the business done. We are not a million miles away.
An Opta stat which tells something of the problem with Burnley,
Burnley have gone 10 Premier League games without scoring a first-half goal, since beating West Ham 3-0 in November. The last team to have a longer run of games without netting in the opening 45 minutes were Burnley themselves in May 2015 (12 games).
Those teams again in analogue fashion.
Burnley: Pope, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Bardsley, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Hendrick, Wood, Rodriguez
Subs: Hart, Lowton, Brady, Pieters, Lennon, Vydra, Long
Leicester: Schmeichel, Ricardo, Soyuncu, Evans, Fuchs, Mendy, Perez, Praet, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy
Subs: Ward, Justin, Morgan, Gray, Tielemans, Albrighton, Iheanacho
The referee is Anthony Taylor of Wythenshawe.
Preamble
We need to talk about Burnley. Dycheball is having a crisis. There have been crises before during the club’s long stay in the Premier League but losing every single game in 2020 is not a good portent for a new decade. They have also scored just one goal since Christmas, and that came in a defeat to Aston Villa. It has them plunging down the table, and if Eddie Howe and Bournemouth are in trouble so is another manager who embodies his unfashionable club.
Let’s also talk of Leicester, for whom any chance of a title challenge relies on a Devon Loch scenario unmatched in human history. Liverpool have got this, but second place is very much within the grasp of Brendan Rodgers’ team, what with Manchester City looking at the end of their cycle and dodgy of defence. A victory at Turf Moor would take Leicester level on points with Pep Guardiola, who has taken to admitting his team is playing for second. There has been something of a stall, after last week’s defeat to Southampton and being held at home by Aston Villa in the first leg of the League Cup.
Kick-off at 2pm UK time
