'Burnley Will Look To Get Amongst Leicester Early'

After Burnley sat out the first weekend of the new Premier League season, Sean Dyche will have used the opportunity to analyse Leicester City's curtain-raiser at West Bromwich Albion, says The Athletic's Andy Jones.

2020-09-20T09:58:00.000Z

After Burnley sat out the first weekend of the new Premier League season, Sean Dyche will have used the opportunity to analyse Leicester City's curtain-raiser at West Bromwich Albion, says The Athletic's Andy Jones.

2020-09-20T09:58:00.000Z

'Burnley Will Look To Get Amongst Leicester Early'

After Burnley sat out the first weekend of the new Premier League season, Sean Dyche will have used the opportunity to analyse Leicester City's curtain-raiser at West Bromwich Albion, says The Athletic's Andy Jones.

2020-09-20T09:58:00.000Z

'Burnley Will Look To Get Amongst Leicester Early'

After Burnley sat out the first weekend of the new Premier League season, Sean Dyche will have used the opportunity to analyse Leicester City's curtain-raiser at West Bromwich Albion, says The Athletic's Andy Jones.

2020-09-20T09:58:00.000Z

'Burnley Will Look To Get Amongst Leicester Early'

After Burnley sat out the first weekend of the new Premier League season, Sean Dyche will have used the opportunity to analyse Leicester City's curtain-raiser at West Bromwich Albion, says The Athletic's Andy Jones.

2020-09-20T09:58:00.000Z

- Leicester City entertain Burnley at King Power Stadium on Sunday (7pm kick-off)- The Foxes have already been in Premier League action this term, winning 3-0 at West Brom- Burnley's trip to Leicester will be their maiden outing in the league of 2020/21- The Athletic's Andy Jones previewed the fixture ahead of LCFC TV's Matchday Live show

The Clarets' visit to King Power Stadium will be their 2020/21 league opener, while the Foxes got up and running with a 3-0 triumph at newly promoted West Bromwich Albion.

Although Burnley have since been in competitive action - overcoming Sheffield United on penalties in the Carabao Cup - Jones believes they could be fresher come kick-off on Sunday.

"You can look at it both ways in terms of Leicester having had that game time, but Burnley are a little bit fresher," he told LCFC TV's Matchday Live show, which starts at 5:30pm.

"They've had the Carabao Cup game on the Thursday of course, so that was the final tune up to get them ready. They will have been able to have a look at the Leicester game against West Brom and do a little bit of analysis and see what might be different from last season and go from there.

"Burnley will come into the season full of confidence and look to get amongst Leicester as early as possible and cause them problems."

On Burnley's targets for the new campaign, Jones says top-rlight survival will be the primary aim, but Dyche will be looking to build upon that if it can be achieved early into the season.

"It's always to survive, that's the priority, 40 points is the first objective for every single season with Burnley in the Premier League," Jones added.

"But given last season and the way that went, they'll be hoping for being a little bit higher than just being in that relegation battle.

"They'll want to be aiming around that mid-table bracket again I guess, but the problem at the moment is the lack of signings and the squad size.

"There are questions marks around whether what they've got currently can get through the entire season and you hope that injuries don't play a big factor, because they have got a very small squad at the moment.

"They are looking to add bodies, so the outlook may be a little bit different in a couple of weeks when the window closes.

"They are going with a lot of confidence, they finished the season off really well, they only lost two of the last 16 Premier League games, which is extremely good and that's even with the struggles of the small squad they had post-lockdown with a couple of players leaving on free transfers."

Jones also pointed to the talents of Dwight McNeil and Chris Wood - two players who have caused problems for the Foxes over previous Premier League seasons.

"I think there are two main ones and they combined to score the goal at King Power Stadium last season: Dwight McNeil and Chris Wood," he continued.

"Wood is coming off his best goalscoring season for Burnley, he's consistently hit double figures and he's always a threat.

"And his partnership with Jay Rodriguez really blossomed in 2020, they combine very well and Wood looks to stretch in behind and Rodriguez plays in the pockets.

"Of course, McNeil on the left is just getting better and better. He started every single game last season and you just saw his development and the trend going upward all the time.

"He's excellent on the ball, he can go down the line and whip really dangerous crosses in.

"But what he's added to his game is the ability and the freedom to come inside and pick the ball up off central midfielders and central defenders and look to try and create and make things happen."

All times BST.

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