Preview: Burnley vs Fulham - prediction, team news, lineups

Two bottom-half Premier League teams keen to return to winning ways meet at Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon as relegation-threatened Burnley play host to Fulham.

The Clarets and the Cottagers face off for the first time since February 2024 when David Datro Fofana scored two second-half goals for the former to salvage a 2-2 home draw against the latter.

Match preview

Since beating basement club Wolves 3-2 at Molineux at the end of October, Burnley have lost each of their last six Premier League games. They last endured a longer losing league run in January/February 1995 in the second tier (eight in a row), while in the top flight they have not lost more than six matches on the bounce since between March and September 1895 (eight).

The Clarets played for more than 45 minutes with 10 men as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United last weekend, their 11th Premier League loss of the season from 15 games that leaves them in 19th place in the table and already five points adrift of safety.

After conceding a record-low 16 goals in 46 Championship matches last season, Burnley have already shipped 30 goals in 15 games in the top flight this term, which is the fourth biggest rise in goals conceded per game (1.65 more than 2024-25) between successive seasons in the history of English football’s top-four tiers, and the biggest since Sheffield United in 2022-23 (0.85) and 2023-24 (2.74), a rise of 1.89 per match.

The pressure is beginning to mount on Scott Parker, who has lost 22 of his last 29 Premier League games as a manager (W4 D3), with Burnley’s current six-game losing run his second such run after losing six in a row as Fulham boss between May 2019 and October 2020. Only Daniel Farke has as higher losing ratio (67%) among PL managers with 50+ games than Parker (61% - 41/67).

Burnley supporters have had little to get excited about in recent weeks, but they will take comfort from the fact that the Clarets are remarkably unbeaten in their last 29 home league meetings with Saturday’s opponents Fulham - their longest ever run against an opponent at Turf Moor.

After claiming their first Premier League away win of the season at Tottenham (2-1) at the end of November, Fulham have since kick-started the month of December with back-to-back defeats at home to Manchester City and Crystal Palace.

Last weekend's 2-1 defeat to the Eagles - conceding the decisive goal in the 87th-minute - leaves the Cottagers languishing in 15th place in the table and just four points above the relegation zone, while speculation over the long-term future of head coach Marco Silva has begun to resurface.

Fulham have lost eight of their 15 Premier League games this season (W5 D2) and in three of the previous four instances they have suffered that many defeats at this stage, they have been relegated - in 2013-14 (10), 2018-19 (10) and 2020-21 (eight). The exception was in 2004-05 (nine, finished 13th).

Silva’s side travel to Turf Moor this weekend seeking to win their first away league match at Burnley since April 1951, as well as end a five-match winless run against the Clarets in the Premier League (D2 L3) since a 4-2 home victory in August 2018.

The Cottagers should have reason to be optimistic of success this time around, as they are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League matches against promoted teams (W6 D5), winning each of the last four in a row – never before have they won five successive top-flight games against promoted sides.

Burnley Premier League form:

Fulham Premier League form:

Team News

Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni (knee), Jordan Beyer (hamstring), Connor Roberts (Achilles) and Bashir Humphreys (muscle) all remain sidelined with injuries, while this weekend’s game is set to come too soon for Axel Tuanzebe (unspecified).

While Hannibal Mejbri is serving the second of a four-game ban for a spitting offence in October, Lucas Pires will serve a one-match suspension after being sent off against Newcastle last time out.

Kyle Walker is also banned after picking up is fifth yellow card of the season at St James’ Park, so Oliver Sonne could be handed a rare first-team opportunity at right-back, while Quilindschy Hartman is expected to replace Pires at left-back.

Zian Flemming has failed to score in six Premier League home games, while on the road he has netted five times in six matches, the joint-most goals without scoring at home by any player in Premier League history along with Alan Cork and Mike Milligan. Flemming will be pushing to start up front ahead of Lyle Foster on Saturday.

As for Fulham, Silva has confirmed that Ryan Sessegnon will not recover in time from a minor thigh injury to feature this weekend and will remain in the treatment room with Rodrigo Muniz (thigh).

Antonee Robinson, who has been sidelined since September with a knee injury, is “progressing well” in his recovery and has taken part in training, with Silva to make a late call on whether to include the American in his matchday squad. A start is not on the cards, though, so Timothy Castagne is set to continue at left-back.

Nigerian trio Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze will all be available one final time this weekend before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations. Bassey and Iwobi are poised to continue at centre-back and centre-midfield respectively, while Chukwueze will hope to retain his spot on the left flank.

In-form Harry Wilson - who has been involved in a goal in each of his last three Premier League appearances (two goals, one assist) - is set to continue on the right wing, meaning Kevin and Adama Traore may be forced to begin as substitutes once again.

Burnley possible starting lineup:

Dubravka; Sonne, Ekdal, Esteve, Hartman; Ugochukwu, Cullen, Florentino; Tchaouna, Foster, Anthony

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Castagne; Iwobi, Berge; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Jimenez

We say: Burnley 0-2 Fulham

The ‘fight, spirit and doggedness’ shown by Burnley in their most recent loss at Newcastle has given Parker some encouragement in his quest to end the club’s torrid losing streak, and they will fancy their chances of claiming a positive result against Fulham considering their strong head-to-head home record.

However, the Cottagers will be regarded as slight favourites for this contest and we believe that Silva’s team should do enough to claim all three points against a leaky Burnley backline on this occasion.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.