Burnley Express

The latest news from Burnley as the Clarets prepare for a home clash with Premier League rivals Leeds United on Saturday week.

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Scott Parker will nervously await the return of several members of his Burnley squad as they represent their countries throughout the second international break of the Premier League season.

The Clarets have experienced mixed fortunes during their return to the top flight of English football and are sitting in the relegation zone after winning just one of their first seven games of the campaign. However, results have not always matched performances as Parker’s men have shown up well in major tests against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and reigning champions Liverpool, who relied on a last-gasp penalty to secure a late win at Turf Moor.

After a hectic summer transfer window, the Burnley squad was boosted by the arrival of several high-profile signings - and one of them has been backed to see off competition from two other Premier League stars to land a regular starting place in his national side.

There was much excitement around Turf Moor after the Clarets landed a deal to sign Feyenoord full-back Quilindschy Hartman and the 23-year-old has started all seven Premier League fixtures during the first two months of his time with the club. His form has also earned Hartman a first international call-up in almost two years after he was named in the Netherlands squad for their World Cup 2025 qualifiers against Malta and Finland.

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Spurs star Micky Van De Ven started at left-back in a 4-0 win against the Netherlands on Thursday - but one Dutch journalist believes Hartman will become the ‘undisputed left-back’ within the Dutch side in the coming years.

Writing for Dutch news outlet Soccer News, Valentijn Driessen said: “(Nathan) Aké normally has a permanent base place, but he doesn't really play at (Manchester) City anymore. (Micky) Van de Ven has tried Koeman a few times, but I think that's more of a salary.

“He (Hartman) plays everything at Burnley, and has to do everything there. He takes the free kicks and the corners. They absolutely love him. What I have seen is that he is back towards the level of his top years at Feyenoord. Then for me he is the undisputed left-back of the Dutch national team.”

Burnley and Leeds comparison made as expectation assessed at League One club

Former Burnley goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell has become a regular with Blackpool after securing a loan move to the League One club during the summer transfer window.

Although the Northern Ireland international has enjoyed a solid start to the season as he enjoyed regular first-team football, the same cannot be said of his side who have won just two of their first 11 games and currently sit second from bottom in the table. That form led to the Tangerines parting company with manager Steve Bruce earlier this week and they will hope to confirm his successor by the time Peacock-Farrell and his team-mates visit Stockport County on Saturday week.

Peacock-Farrell has assessed the expectation he has found at Bloomsfield Road and he made the comparison with the environment he experienced during his time with Burnley, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday.

He told The Blackpool Gazette: “You can see with the fans and the passion here that there’s an expectation here. That was the same at (Sheffield) Wednesday, Birmingham, Leeds, Burnley - there’s an expectation there to perform, and that’s the same at this club. I enjoy that. As players we’ve got to thrive on it.”

Your next Burnley read: Scott Parker calling for 'perspective' amid 'pleasing' Burnley Premier League start

Burnley has topped the Premier League list for the most expensive individual matchday programme, with a postponed 1968 First Division clash against Tottenham Hotspur selling for an incredible £2,868.82 on eBay.

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That’s according to new research from Where The Trade Buys (WTTB.co.uk), one of the UK’s leading print providers of books and brochures, which analysed the 10 most expensive programmes ever sold on eBay for each club competing in the 2025/26 Premier League.

While Burnley ranks fifth overall for the combined value of its top 10 programmes (£4,076.55), the club’s leading edition sits above all others in the study, ahead of iconic Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur fixtures.

Among the highest-value Burnley programmes were:

Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley (1968 postponed fixture) – £2,868.82

Charlton Athletic vs Burnley (1947) – £199.99

Burnley vs Tottenham Hotspur (1953) – £170.73

Emma Thomson from wttb.co.uk, herself a former Arsenal Women’s youth player and self-professed Tottenham Hotspur die-hard, commented:

“For both fans and collectors, there’s something timeless about a printed matchday programme. Leeds' position near the top of the table shows just how much these physical programmes still mean, with people willing to invest significant amounts of money to own a piece of football history.

“Even in an increasingly digital age, print retains a unique emotional and cultural value. As this research shows, decades-old programmes still resonate deeply with football supporters.”

For more information please visit: https://wttb.co.uk/category/booklets-and-brochures

Wolverhampton Wanderers topped the overall rankings, with a total of £6,327.96 spent across their 10 most valuable programmes. That figure placed them ahead of some of the league’s biggest clubs, including Arsenal (£4,720.66), Tottenham Hotspur (£4,678.25), and Manchester United (£3,703.14).

Scott Parker was pleased with the impact of Burnley’s summer signings during their season opener at Tottenham – singling out Kyle Walker in particular.

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Martin Dubravka, Quilindschy Hartman and Walker were all handed starts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, while Lesley Ugochukwu and Loum Tchouana both came off the bench.

The same was also the case for Jacob Bruun Larsen, albeit it was his second debut in Burnley colours.

Of Burnley’s three other summer recruits, Max Weiss was preferred to Vaclav Hladky on the bench, but neither Axel Tuanzebe and Armando Broja were involved.

Despite suffering a 3-0 defeat in North London, the Clarets performed well in their season opener, with Parker being left pleased with how his new boys got on.

"I thought they did really well,” he said. “I thought Kyle Walker in particular was outstanding.

"Of course, it’s a lot of new players that probably have not experienced the Premier League and English football, so I was pleased overall with them.

“It'll be a good experience for them, good learning for them to be in the arena and understand and feel what exactly it's like, so I’m pleased with those boys.”

Parker also felt Walker’s display on his old stomping ground just proves his hunger levels are very much still thee.

“They’re right up there, to be fair,” the Clarets boss added.

“Those were the early conversations with Kyle before he came here, because of his age and the level of where he's come from and what he's done.

"Of course, this is a totally different project and something he's not probably experienced this year, what he's going to face. But I know Kyle well and I know he'll face up to that, engage with that and do what he did [against Spurs on Saturday].

“Like I said, I thought he was brilliant for us.”

Burnley’s debutants will now be hoping to enjoy a similar impact when the Clarets face Sunderland in their first home game of the season next Saturday.

The Black Cats kicked off their campaign with a resounding 3-0 victory against West Ham.

Despite the 3-0 defeat, those Clarets fans in attendance will have been encouraged by much of what they witnessed – with Scott Parker’s side matching Spurs for large parts of the game.

Our photographer Kelvin Lister-Stuttard was on hand to snap some great fan photos from the away end at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Can you spot yourself in our gallery of fan pictures?

One of the more remarkable records Burnley kept last season was their refusal to concede more than once in a single league game.

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Within 90 minutes of being back in the Premier League, the Clarets were given a brutal reminder – as if they needed one – of the harsh realities of the top flight, shipping three to Tottenham in their season opener and with two of them coming within just six minutes of each other.

That was the pivotal moment in the game, there’s no doubt about it. For the first hour, Scott Parker’s side had been more than a match for last season’s Europa League winners.

They could consider themselves unfortunate to be behind and, having grown back into the game after a startled start, were looking the more likely to grab the game’s next goal.

They should have done too. They created two golden opportunities, the first for Hannibal, the second for Jaidon Anthony. Both went begging. You simply can’t afford to be missing opportunities of that quality at this level.

Six minutes later, the visitors were three down and staring down the barrel of a heavy opening day defeat – and their first in the league in 287 days – having done very little, if anything, wrong.

Positives

Scott Parker will have mixed emotions. There will be no part of him that enjoyed losing a game 3-0, but he’ll have been hugely encouraged by a lot of what he witnessed.

The opening 10 minutes or so was a tough watch though, it has to be said. In fact, the first 30 seconds will have prompted many travelling Burnley fans to watch through their fingers, such was the ferocity in which Spurs came out of the blocks.

It was frustrating then that, just as Burnley looked to be settling into the game, they conceded a real sloppy goal after just 10 minutes.

It wasn’t a mistake as such, but Maxime Esteve should have done better with a wayward clearance that went straight to Mohammed Kudus, only inviting pressure in the final third. The former West Ham man swung in a dangerous cross and Richarlison swiftly moved free of Hjalmar Ekdal to steer home a first-time effort.

At this point the Clarets could easily have gone under, but they responded well and for the remainder of the half they were the better side.

This wasn’t simply a case of sitting back against a better side and hoping for an opening to emerge, the Clarets had a plan and stuck to it. They were pressing well and crucially at the right times, they were a constant threat on the transition and they were posing all the right questions from set-pieces and long throws.

As predicted beforehand, Burnley were making a right nuisance of themselves. They refused to simply roll over. They were more than a match for their Champions League opponents, producing 14 shots on goal to Tottenham’s 16.

Key moments

This remained the case until that pivotal five or six-minute period in the second-half that essentially decided the outcome of the game.

Hannibal dallied over the ball for all of a split-second, but at this level that’s the sort of delay that will see a Micky van de Ven swoop in and deny you. Anthony was then denied by Vicario from all of six yards out, as panic set in among the Spurs backline.

But within the blink of an eye, Parker’s side found themselves two down as Richarlison expertly and acrobatically completed his brace. It was utterly ruthless stuff.

To sum up the Premier League in one neat metaphor, the ball was in the centre circle one moment as I momentarily took my eyes away from my laptop. The next time I looked up, the ball was in the back of Martin Dubravka’s net as Brennan Johnson beat the onrushing keeper with a tidy chipped finish. And that was that.

Having come so close to making it 1-1 and setting up a more-than-interesting finish, Burnley were dead and buried.

Blueprint

It sounds like a bizarre assertion to make after suffering a 3-0 defeat, but what Saturday proved is that Burnley have the right blueprint for success. They just came out on the wrong side in all of the decisive, key moments in the game and that can happen when you’re facing such a top side. You suspect it won’t be the last time it happens this season.

The question mark, of course, is whether the Clarets have the required quality to take full advantage of such a promising performance and take these aforementioned opportunities when they continue to come. But we’re only one game in.

It might still not be enough for survival, but Burnley approached this game a lot more pragmatically and sensibly than what we witnessed two years ago at the start of their last relegation campaign. That will stand them in good stead.

To survive, Burnley need to be hard to beat. They need to know how and when to slow the game down, be more street-smart, be difficult to break down and take better advantage of set-pieces. This was all on show at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

The blueprint is there, they just need to execute it.

Scott Parker felt there were plenty of encouraging signs from Burnley’s opening game of the season, despite their cruel defeat to Tottenham.

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The Clarets matched Spurs for large parts of today’s season opener in North London, but were ruthlessly punished for some poor finishing in front of goal.

Thomas Frank’s side certainly weren’t wasteful in the final third, producing three clinical finishes to take the points – two coming from Richarlison and Brennan Johnson with the other.

“It’s the fine margins of the Premier League, that's probably the main thing that comes out of this,” Parker said afterwards

“We started the game slowly and Tottenham certainly put us under a lot of pressure, which wasn't ideal from us.

“We go a goal down but I thought our reaction was very, very good. We created numerous chances and I felt that we were really in the game.

“Second-half we come out bright, we missed a massive chance just before the hour mark to maybe go level – and then the clinicalness of the Premier League, they obviously produce an outstanding, world-class finish and probably just seized the game away from us a little bit.

“But there were some real positives today, to be honest with you. Of course, we're disappointed. I'm disappointed, the players are too, because we came here to try and get a result and we've not managed to do that.

“But overall, there were some real pleasing things I saw with us and the team I want us to be this year. It's the Premier League as well, and that's one of the biggest learnings from today.

“The clinicalness you have to be at, how quick you have to get your shot off. You don't have a lot of time in the Premier League, obviously, against world-class players, athletes, with the physicality.

“That's the ruthlessness of the Premier League, full concentration, keeping attention constantly, because a game at any moment can turn – and like I said, that was probably evident at that moment and that was a big, big factor today.”

Following promotion from the Championship last season with 100 points, Burnley fans will be hoping they can continue their 33-game unbeaten streak in the league with a result against last season’s Europa League winners.

Did our photographer snap you arriving at the stadium before kick off?

Scott Parker has handed out three debuts for Burnley’s Premier League opener against Tottenham.

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Summer signings Martin Dubravka, Kyle Walker and Quilindschy Hartman all get the nod for this afternoon’s season opener in North London.

While Dubravka comes in for Vaclav Hladky in goal, the team is otherwise unchanged from last week’s final pre-season friendly against Lazio.

Fellow summer recruits Max Weiss, Lesley Ugochukwu, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Loum Tchouana are all named on the bench, but Armando Broja is not involved.

The Clarets also stick with the back three that they’ve worked on during pre-season, with Hartman and Oliver Sonne taking the wing-back roles and Walker, Hjalmar Ekdal and Maxime Esteve in the back three.

Josh Laurent partners Josh Cullen in midfield, while Hannibal and Jaidon Anthony play off Lyle Foster in attack.

Last season’s 14-goal scorer Zian Flemming is fit enough to be named among the substitutes, but the likes of Axel Tuanzebe, Bashir Humphreys, Jordan Beyer, Connor Roberts and the aforementioned Broja all miss out, as well as long-term absentee Zeki Amdouni.

The likes of Hannes Delcroix, Manuel Benson, Luca Koleosho, Mike Tresor and Ashley Barnes aren’t picked either.

As for Spurs, Thomas Frank makes three changes to the side that were beaten on penalties by PSG in the Super Cup on Wednesday night, as Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Brennan Johnson all come in.

TEAMS

Spurs: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Spence, Gray, Sarr, Bergvall, Johnson, Kudus, Richarlison

Subs: Kinsky, Danso, Davies, Palhinha, Tel, Vuskovic, Bentancur, Odobert, Solanke

Burnley: Dubravka, Sonne, Walker, Ekdal, Esteve, Hartman, Cullen, Laurent, Hannibal, Anthony, Foster

Subs: Weiss, Worrall, Pires, Ugochukwu, Ramsey, Bruun Larsen, Edwards, Tchouana, Flemming

Referee: Michael Oliver

Burnley mark their return to the Premier League today with a tricky first fixture of the season away to Tottenham.

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Scott Parker returns to his old stomping ground to face the reigning Europa League winners, who are now under the management of ex-Brentford boss Thomas Frank after Ange Postecoglou’s axing.

Despite the European success, the Australian paid the price for a dreadful league campaign that saw Tottenham finish 17th after suffering 22 defeats.

As for Burnley, they will be looking to get up and running by avoiding defeat on their return to the top flight, following last season’s 100-point automatic promotion from the Championship.

The Clarets ended last season unbeaten in their last 33 games, with their last league defeat coming away to Millwall at the start of November.

Here’s all the important information ahead of today’s fixture:

When and where is the game taking place?

The match is being held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, August 16. Kick-off is at 3pm.

Is it on TV?

No, it falls behind the UK’s Saturday 3pm blackout.

How else can I follow the game?

Burnley FC writer Matt Scrafton will be providing live updates on his X feed, followed by a match report, post-match reaction and further analysis on the Burnley Express’ website.

What’s the latest team news?

Burnley’s most recent signings – Martin Dubravka, Lesley Ugochukwu and Armando Broja – are all available for selection despite being at different stages of fitness.

Elsewhere, Axel Tuanzebe, Connor Roberts and Zian Flemming have all been training despite missing some of pre-season with knocks.

Jordan Beyer has suffered a setback in his long road back from serious injury, while Bashir Humphreys and Zeki Amdouni are both sidelined.

As for Spurs, a question mark remains over the availability of Yves Bissouma, who was left out of Tottenham’s midweek Super Cup game with PSG for disciplinary reasons.

Radu Dragusin, Dejan Kulusevski, Bryan Gil and James Maddison are all out, while Kota Takai and Destiny Udogie are both fitness doubts.

Scott Parker’s pre-match comments

“This is a brilliant game for us to open with, for sure. We're looking forward to it.

“We're in a good place. We've worked hard during pre-season. But then you never really know sitting in this position until the season starts and no doubt as the season gets going, you're always improving. But I think we're in a great place.

“Most of my pre-seasons are like this, trying to get us up to the best physical shape we can be in. The numbers suggest that, my eyes suggest that when I'm watching us train and where we currently are as a group, so we're in a good place in that sense.”

What are the predicted teams?

Spurs: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence, Bentancur, Palhinha, Kudus, Bergvall, Johnson, Solanke

Burnley: Hladky, Sonne, Walker, Ekdal, Esteve, Hartman, Cullen, Ugochukwu, Hannibal, Anthony, Foster

Who is the referee?

Michael Oliver. The official took charge of 46 games last season, dishing out 204 yellow cards and nine reds. He last officiated Burnley in April 2024, when he dismissed Dara O’Shea during the 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.

What are the latest odds?

Spurs: 1/3

Draw: 19/5

Burnley: 15/2

Odds according to SkyBet and correct at the time of writing.

Burnley will mark their return to the Premier League with a visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon.

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Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a major boost ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener with Burnley after Thomas Frank confirmed midfielder Yves Bissouma would be back in contention.

The former Brighton and Hove Albion star has endured a challenging start to life working under Frank after he was the subject of disciplinary action earlier this week when he was dropped from the Spurs squad that faced Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup. Frank confirmed Bissouma would not feature against the Champions League winners as a punishment for turning up late for training on a number of occasions in recent weeks but the Mali international will return to contention for the meeting with Scott Parker’s side.

However, it wasn’t all positive news for Frank after he confirmed Italy international Destiny Udogie was ‘progressing’ from a knee injury he suffered during preparations for a pre-season friendly against Luton Town last month - but would not be ready to return in time to feature in his matchday squad this weekend.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, the new Spurs head coach said said: "Every player is available for the team tomorrow. Destiny is progressing, but's too early for him to be involved in the squad. Bissouma was a situation. I addressed it, there was a consequence. He will be in the squad tomorrow. Of course we dealt with the situation. These situations you deal with internally of course. It's dealt with, I'm looking forward. It's a big game tomorrow and that's where the main focus should be.”d. We have a big game tomorrow."

Clarets defender ready for comeback

Burnley defender Hjalmar Ekdal believes the Clarets are ‘in a good position’ as they prepare to mark their return to the Premier League with a visit to Spurs this weekend.

The Sweden international missed the Clarets push for promotion back into the top flight after spending the second half of last season on loan at FC Groningen but is now back amongst Scott Parker’s squad after making 14 appearances for the Eredivisie club. Ekdal has featured throughout Burnley’s pre-season schedule and is hoping to make the most of his loan spell in the Netherlands and his involvement over the last month.

He told the club website: “It feels really good [to be back]. I came back from a loan spell last spring and the plan with that was to get game time and to get my form up again which I felt I did really. With it in mind that I’m coming back for pre-season so I can be prepared and compete. I’ve played a lot now, so I’m feeling good.

“This pre-season has been really good for me and for the whole team. I think we've been training really hard preparing for the Premier League. We know that it's quite a different challenge from the Championship. It's the toughest league in the world. So, I think if we can be really well trained and really fit for the season, we are in a good position.”