In a Championship that has been generally very tight as highlighted by the league table, Vincent Kompany’s Burnley have stood out as strong contenders for automatic promotion following relegation from the Premier League last season.
The former Manchester City defender has transformed the style of football and culture at Turf Moor, implementing a considerably more attractive approach than the one the club adopted in the top flight under Sean Dyche, helping the team move clear of the chasing pack so far.
The Clarets are first in the league standings with 44 points from 22 matches, a tally that puts them eight points ahead of third-placed Blackburn Rovers who suffered a heavy defeat to Preston North End last weekend.
Apart from after a defeat to Watford in August and a disastrous afternoon at Bramall Lane in November which ended in a 5-2 loss, Kompany’s side have not travelled
home from a Championship fixture empty-handed this season, and have also developed a helpful habit of scoring freely, netting three or more times in three of their last four league games.
Jay Rodriguez is leading the scoring charts for Burnley with nine goals, a tally supplemented by the seven strikes provided by Southampton’s Nathan Tellain the youngster’s first loan move away from St Mary’s Stadium.
The soap opera that is Juventus Football Club began another shocking chapter last month, as chairman Andrea Agnelli, vice chairman Pavel Nedved and the entire club’s board resigned amid an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoings.
False accounting and Financial Fair Play breaches are supposedly being looked at by prosecutors at a time where Juventus were starting to look like their old selves again on the field, but such a dramatic scandal now threatens to derail their recent progress.
Links >> Stream 1 HD Stream 2 HD Stream 3 HD Stream 4 HD
Manchester United legend Carrick has only lost once in his first six matches as Middlesbrough boss, with that result coming at Deepdale against a Preston side who are set to fight for a top-six place this season.
Boro fans will be hoping their team can do the same, with a four-point gap to sixth place easily recoverable with the season yet to reach its metaphorical half-time break.
However, a trip to Turf Moor does not seem a likely destination for Boro to close in on the likes of Preston and Watford when considering the Clarets are unbeaten on home turf this season, scoring over two goals per game in the process.
