Burnley look to go halfway safe against Hull
Big game at Turf Moor between Burnley and Hull - two teams likely to be in the bottom six of the division at the end of the season.
Burnley's 100% home record has now gone but it is at Turf Moor that the club will attempt to maintain its Premier League status. Interestingly Burnley has already won four games this season and the bottom four last season only won seven or eight games all season - so on one measure Burnley is halfway safe (admittedly this season there have been fewer draws). Ten wins for the season should be sufficient (Stoke, last season, picked up 12 wins) for safety and Burnley will expect to move onto five wins after this test.
Hull is in the press for a number of bad reason, discontent behind the scenes has lead to a boardroom re-shuffle and gossip of Paul Jewell about to come in in place of Phil Brown is commonplace. In the league Hull is mired in the relegation zone with the worst goal difference in the division - even Portsmouth haven't taken the beatings that Hull has including 5-1 (Spurs), 4-1 (Sunderland), 4-0 (Everton) and 6-1 (Liverpool). On the plus side Hull has tightened up in defence since being thrashed at Anfield and has only conceded four in the last three games - including a precious point at home to Pompey. Another fighting draw today would lift spirits hugely.
Burnley vs Hull City; Kick Off 3:00pm 31 Oct 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : TBC
Chris Cox : 1 - 0
Graham Enwright : 2 - 1
Sue Gardener : 2 - 1
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 0
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 2 - 0
Peter Lee : 2 - 0
Don McMahon : 1 - 0
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 0 - 0
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 1 - 1
Dave Nash : 2 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : 1 - 0
Tony Ratton : 2 - 0
Peter Rendle : 1 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 0
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 0
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 2 - 0
Panel Verdict
The panel is expecting a 2-0 Burnley win.
Home: 14; Draw: 3; Away: 0; TBC: 3.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
