Burnley will be without Zeki Amdouni, Connor Roberts and Jordan Beyer for their Premier League meeting with Arsenal at Turf Moor this weekend.
Amdouni remains sidelined after suffering a cruciate ligament injury earlier in the year, while Roberts and Beyer have both sustained setbacks in their recoveries from knee and thigh issues respectively.
Manager Scott Parker has said the trio will all miss the visit of the league leaders and are unlikely to return before the new year.
“Zeki’s some time away,” Parker said earlier this month. “He’s just coming back from a long-term injury, cruciate ligament, so he’s going to be a while away. He’s had the surgery, probably a few months ago now, and he’s moving in the right direction.”
“Connor, no. He’s had a little bit of a setback; he’ll be a little longer now. It’s probably looking like a few months for Connor, which is not ideal and a big setback for us,” Parker added. “Jordan had a little bit of a setback with his hamstring. So, again, not too long, but not in contention in the foreseeable.”
Burnley go into the game on the back of consecutive league wins but face an Arsenal side who have taken 22 points from their first nine matches and are unbeaten in their last 11 visits to Turf Moor. The Clarets have beaten Arsenal only once in their last 20 meetings, a 1-0 win at the Emirates in December 2020.
Parker has urged his players and the home crowd to make the most of their recent momentum, calling for what he described as “humungous energy” to unsettle Mikel Arteta’s side.
“We’re at home and our stadium has been a fortress for us – we’ve had an incredible home record in my time here,” he said. “We’ve made Turf Moor a really tough place for teams to come and play – and the fans have played a massive part in that. We need to make it exactly like that again this weekend.”
He added, “While we’re up against a top team in Arsenal, we need to make it tough for them and do the polar opposite of what they want. Our fans are going to need to bring absolutely humungous energy into the stadium, our players are going to need to bring unbelievable spirit, showing the best version of themselves.”
Parker also rejected criticism of Arsenal’s perceived overreliance on set pieces, describing them as one of Europe’s most complete sides.
“You can’t say they just totally rely on set-plays,” he said. “They’ve had key moments so far this season where they’ve got wins from set-pieces, but they’re an exceptional, well-oiled machine. They’ve got a great bedrock defensively, something we enjoyed success with last season, but they’re just an overall top, top side.”
The game at Turf Moor will be Burnley’s latest test of progress under Parker, but with three senior players ruled out, their manager admitted that perfection will be needed. “We’re going to need to be at our optimum in almost every facet,” he said.
“But it’s 90 minutes and anything can happen.”