A buoyant Clarets outfit could move within one point of the Baggies with success at Turf Moor as they try to build on finally notching an away victory this season.
There was no fluke about the performance either at Crystal Palace as they controlled the game tactically and at last managed to put away two chances with clinical efficiency.
I wonder whether as well there was a little additional motivation to deliver the goods for ‘absent’ midfield hero Joey Barton and the 39 points they now have on the board looks good enough.
Grounded manager Sean Dyche did not celebrate with anything more than a cup of coffee on his way home from London though but is keen to press on with a top-half finish still very much in play.
Their outstanding home form has dropped off a little with just one victory in five in all competitions but an odds-against quote is a tempting play here to rediscover the winning knack against a West Brom team that can’t seem to get out of its own way at the moment.
Talk a little over a month ago of smashing the 50-point barrier in the Premier League for a first time seemed a formality having swept aside Arsenal and drawn with Manchester United at Old Trafford but they have been stuck in a considerable rut ever since.
The tally now stands at four straight defeats and no goals scored although they have hardly been blown away in three 1-0 reverses but that little bit of extra quality Tony Pulis always craves has been obvious by its absence.
He is not helped on that front once again with Matt Phillips and Hal Robson-Kanu still sidelined which leaves Salomon Rondon – fresh from his cataclysmic error to set up Leicester’s winner last week – as the lone goal threat up front.
The Venezuelan has not scored in 19 games and it could be another long afternoon against a sound Burnley defence behind which Tom Heaton is looking for an 11th clean sheet of the campaign.
Dyche will admit that Burnley’s worst effort all season came at The Hawthorns in a 4-0 November drubbing (3-0 down before the break) but they look in good shape to make amends.
Burnley vS West Brom prediction: 1 @ 2,25
