[NoSkillz]

Sun. January 26, 2025

Barclays Premier League
Dover (16-4-3, 52 points, 3rd) vs. Burnley (1-6-17, 9 points, 20th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Burnley: 10-1
Past Meetings: 3W 0D 2L

Burnley have only one win to show for their return to the top flight of English football and they are most certainly headed back to the Championship next year, as they are a full 12 points from safety at the moment. We managed a tight 2-0 win in their stadium earlier this year and one would expect us to roll today. Burnley are really struggling to score goals and their leading scorers are Haris Seferovic and Harry Kane with 5 each. That won’t cut it.

We have the second leg of the League Cup coming up on Wednesday at Old Trafford so we’ll be starting a number of backups today, including Neil Cairney, Andrea Rocca, Graham Allan, Mwemere Mutesa and Emerson. Paul Moses is up front with Andy Broomes today - that’s a lot of speed up front! Manuel Perez is in goal.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, M. Mutesa, R. Hamon, Emerson
M - M. Pedersen, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, A. Broomes
Bench - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, E. Harvey, B. Raab, F. Hernandez, L. Kunchev, Z. Bardi

Burnley are in a tight 4-4-2 diamond formation with Kane and Seferovic up front and Dwayne Miller in goal. I tell the lads I expect a victory today.

HALFTIME - UGH. Burnley are just keeping everyone back and allowing a shooting gallery but we can’t break them down for a goal. We hold 64% of the ball, a 15-1 (5-0 on target) shot advantage and highlight after highlight but can’t get that elusive goal. Moses hasn’t been a factor at all with them sitting back. We’ll move to an overload system for 10 minutes or so to start the half in order to get more men forward and hopefully open things up a bit in the middle.

62’ - Still nothing! WOW. We take out the overconfident Neil Cairney and ineffective Andy Broomes and bring in Benedikt Raab and Zoltan Bardi. We also change back to a control mentality but move to a 4-2-4. Can’t believe we aren’t able to break them down.

78’ - Emmerson Harvey is ready to come on and we’re set for a formation change but we finally break through before doing so. Renato Gaucho has the ball on the left flank and crosses to the far post. Graham Allan looks offsides and is all alone and easily heads the ball past the fantastic Dwayne Miller and we’re on the board. DOVER GOAL 1-0

Wild. Burnley’s striker Haris Seferovic complains after the goal and gets a second yellow, knocking him out of the game. BURNLEY RED CARD: Haris Seferovic

Harvey comes on for Andrea Rocca and we switch back to a flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality. Burnley are in a flat 4-4-1.

I feel fortunate to score one.

Dover 1 - 0 Burnley
Goals - Graham Allan (7.5)
Assists - Renato Gaucho (7.3)
Man of the Match - Graham Allan
Other Dover Notables - Emerson (7.3), Rayane Hamon (7.3), Mwemere Mutesa (7.5), Andrea Rocca (7.2), Mads Pedersen (7.2)
Attendance - 21,482

We end up with 64% of possession and a huge 31-2 (9-0 on target) shot advantage but can only get one contested goal past a very strong Burnley keeper. Moses and Broomes both got 6.4 ratings and neither could get loose at any point against Burnley’s stingy defence. Ugly but it’s a win.

-- Manchester United also win on Sunday over Liverpool and stay 3 points ahead of us but we’ve moved up to 2nd place after our win.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 25 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 58 points (after 24 games)
2. Dover - 55 points (after 24 games)
3. Chelsea - 53 points
4. Manchester City - 52 points
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5. Sheffield Wednesday - 45 points
6. Arsenal - 44 points
7. Newcastle - 39 points
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8. Middlesbrough - 38 points
9. Tottenham - 37 points
10. Reading - 36 points
11. Sunderland - 33 points
12. Liverpool - 31 points
13. Huddersfield - 30 points (after 24 games)
14. Wolves - 29 points
15. Everton - 25 points (after 24 games)
16. Aston Villa - 24 points
17. Sheffield United - 21 points
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18. Blackpool - 13 points
19. Derby - 12 points
20. Burnley - 4 points



Transfer Clause Money IN

-- We earn an extra £250,000 from Udinese, as Orlando Scolari plays in 20 league games for their club and we cash in on a games played clause.



International Update

-- Arsene Bamba suits up for Ivory Coast but they lose in African Nations play and are eliminated from the competition. He’ll be back in time for our big League Cup tie against United but likely won’t be in any condition to play. Saber Nasri plays for Tunisia and they emerge victorious to move to the knockout stages.



Transfer Market Fun

-- Olympique Lyonnais come calling for our stud striker prospect Alberto Velazquez, offering a paltry £1 million. I contemplate a counter offer but just flat out reject it. Velazquez has 43 (!!!) goals in 21 non-competitive starts and is a 3.5 star prospect. No need to bail out early on such a great looking talent.



Next Up

-- We have a slim one goal edge as we head into a second leg against Manchester United in the League Cup semi-finals at Old Trafford.