Opposition…
Burnley will be hoping the string on their proverbial yo-yo is cut come the end of the 2025/26 season.
The Clarets have gone down, up, down again and up again in each of the previous four seasons, alternating seasons of struggle in the Premier League with seasons of dominance in the EFL Championship.
In 76 Premier League games in 2021/22 and 2023/24, Burnley won just 12 and lost 41.
In 92 Championship matches in 2022/23 and 2024/25, Burnley won 57 and lost just five.
The contrast between those records illustrates the gulf in quality between the two divisions, and the difficulty promoted teams now have trying to stay in the best league in the world.
It is not as if Burnley have not invested in attempting to bridge the gap, appointing former Manchester City and Belgium captain Vincent Kompany as manager in the summer of 2022.
Kompany led a free-scoring, free-flowing Burnley to promotion in his first season, only to find his approach was not anywhere near as effective when he did not have superior players to many of the opponents his team faced.
Kompany departed in the summer of 2024 to join Bayern Munich, where he has excelled.
Into his seat in the Turf Moor dugout moved former West Ham United and England midfielder Scott Parker, who had previously led both Fulham and AFC Bournemouth to promotion from the Championship playing an altogether more pragmatic style of football.
Parker’s first season as Burnley manager was historic. His team conceded just 16 goals in 46 league matches, kept 30 clean sheets and incredibly did not concede more than one goal in a single game once.
Repeating that record-breaking defensive record in the Premier League was never going to be achievable, so Parker’s challenge now is to maintain a strong back line while working out a way to score enough goals to win enough matches to stay up.
The Lancashire club’s American owners certainly backed him in the transfer market, bringing in 14 players, including England full-back Kyle Walker, talented attacking midfielder Marcus Edwards from Sporting Lisbon, Netherlands international full-back Quilindschy Hartman from Feyenoord, French pair Lesley Ugochukwu and Loum Tchaouna from Chelsea and Lazio respectively, and Albania striker Armando Broja from Chelsea. Burnley also brought back former loanee, Denmark winger Jacob Bruun Larsen, on a permanent basis.
It will take time for the new-look team to gel, but time is something Premier League managers and clubs do not get, so Parker will need to show all his determination and tenacity to cut that yo-yo string and keep Burnley in the Premier League.
Previous Meetings…
West Ham meet Burnley for the 19th time in the Premier League on Saturday, and the first since the 2023/24 campaign.
The Hammers are unbeaten in the last six meetings between the two clubs, winning three and drawing the other three.
In total, West Ham have won eight of those top-flight fixtures since that first meeting in 2009, when we triumphed in an eight-goal thriller 5-3 at the Boleyn Ground. The most recent head-to-head, at London Stadium in March 2024, ended in a 2-2 draw, thanks to a late Danny Ings equaliser. The teams' meeting at Turf Moor earlier that season was similarly dramatic, with Tomáš Souček netting an injury-time winner.
Burnley did complete the Premier League double over West Ham in 2019/20, winning 3-0 at Turf Moor in November 2019 and 1-0 at London Stadium in July, but we got our revenge by completing our own double the following season, winning 1-0 in east London in January before securing a 2-1 success at Turf Moor in May.
Match Officials…
Referee: Michael Salisbury
Assistant Referees: Marc Perry and Natalie Aspinall
Fourth Official: James Linington
VAR: Neil Davies
Assistant VAR: Peter Bankes
Michael Salisbury has been confirmed as the referee for West Ham United’s Premier League fixture with Burnley.
Salisbury has been part of the Select Group of Referees since the 2021/22 season and has held the whistle in three Premier League matches so far this campaign, while he was fourth official to Tony Harrington during our 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at London Stadium in September.
The Lancashire-born official refereed two of West Ham’s fixtures during the 2024/25 campaign, away at Manchester City in January and then our narrow 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle United in March.
Furthermore, Salisbury oversaw Northampton Town’s EFL League Two Play-Off final win over Exeter City in June 2020.
For more information about the officials, click HERE.