Despite only playing Burnley three times in the past 35 years, this fixture has quite a rich history with a total of 101 encounters with the wins being close to being evenly distributed which suggests that, whenever we come up against Burnley, matches really can go either way and have proven to be rather unpredictable. Interestingly, the 2014/15 season is the only season where the two league fixtures between the two sides finished as two draws and that includes the second tier as well as the top flight.

Burnley have been enduring an excellent season so far and I really like Sean Dyche as a manager. He has done a fantastic job with Burnley and they are deserving of the achievements they have had thus far in the season. With regards to our current situation (I am practically discarding the Man City defeat because we were never expected to get anything from the game), Wednesday’s match against Burnley, I believe, is a must win. Having home advantage could be the key to victory. I know that Burnley are a very good side but, with regards to disappointing home draws in the past month against Brighton and Swansea, one point in this match is not going to look good and the potential loss of two or three points from this game

could be a crucial determining factor in the fight for survival.

Facts and Figures

All Competitions

Burnley wins: 42

Newcastle wins: 40

Draws: 19

Top flight

Burnley wins: 33

Newcastle wins: 29

Draws: 15

Top flight at St. James’ Park

Newcastle wins: 18

Burnley wins: 12

Draws: 8

Previous ten (all competitions)

Burnley wins: 5 (13 goals)

Draws: 3

Newcastle wins: 2 (13 goals)

Biggest win (in this fixture)

Newcastle United 7 – 1 Burnley (15/09/1951)

This match was an early season encounter between two sides who, during the 1950s, were both ever-present in the top flight. After the Magpies finished 4th the previous season, an 8th placed finish the following season is not entirely satisfactory by today’s high standards. However, on the plus side, it was an excellent season for Chilean star, George Robledo who finished the season with a then joint record season tally with 39 goals equalling the record set by Hughie Gallacher. The record is now held by Andy Cole for his tally of 41 goals in the 1993/94 season.

Biggest defeat (in this fixture)

Newcastle United 2 – 7 Burnley (29/08/1928)

The 1928/29 season threw up two entertaining league encounters between the two sides with an aggregate scoreline of 11-5 in Burnley’s favour. There has not been a higher aggregate scoreline in all of the matches played between Newcastle and Burnley and that includes the seasons where they were drawn together in the FA Cup as well as coming up together in the league.

To add a little hope for the Toon Army, Burnley have made Turf Moor a fortress this season and so their away record hasn’t been as good as their home record. Burnley’s recent away form currently stands at no wins in the past six games which could be a contributing factor towards confidence within a team. Another element of hope to add is the fixtures which the teams around us are coming up against on Tuesday and Wednesday. Swansea are at home to Arsenal on Tuesday, West Brom have the luxury of paying a visit to Man City, Southampton and Brighton as well as West ham and Crystal Palace (two teams in our vicinity, table-wise) play each other, Huddersfield are at home to Liverpool who will be looking to bounce back from their early cup exit and finally, Bournemouth are the next visitors to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. Given the state of these fixtures and the table at this moment in time, I think, coming up against Burnley is one of the easier games that the teams in the bottom half have.

As everyone knows, it has been a crazy season thus far in the bottom half of the table. With it being so compact in the points tally, we could break into the top half however we could end up at the foot of the table by the end of Wednesday. If it is any consolation, however, a relegation scrap is massively different to a title race as teams in a relegation fight often slip up (similar to Steven Gerrard) however faults between title rivals are few and far between. You only need to look at last season to see how Brighton and ourselves fought over the Championship title.