Burnley face Brentford at Turf Moor this weekend in a first meeting between the two sides since 2003.

The Clarets have made a sluggish start on their return to the second tier, while Brentford have fared better by earning four points from their opening two games.

Burnley

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Backed by many to earn an instant return to the top flight, even after losing certain key faces, Burnley have so far struggled to find any momentum.

Dramatic draws against Leeds United and Birmingham City were hard to analyse due to the late nature of the goals, but a 2-0 reverse at Ipswich Town last time out was enough to show that more needs to be done.

Losing Kieran Trippier and Danny Ings in particular left big gaps to plug, which Sean Dyche is hoping will see fit-again Sam Vokes and replacement full-back Tendayi Darikwa step up to the plate across the duration of the season.

Dyche has - rightly - claimed that his side are currently going through a "transition" phase, but the core group of the squad still contains some real quality options.

Of course, had certain decisions gone their way in the 2-2 draw against Birmingham last weekend, things would have looked a whole lot different from a Burnley perspective.

As it is, three games in, the Clarets find themselves way down in 19th place and already out of the League Cup thanks to a surprise defeat at Port Vale in round one.

Scoring goals at Turf Moor was a real problem for the Clarets at the end of last season, meanwhile, but having netted twice against the Blues that issues looks to have been resolved.

Missing out on reported target Henri Lansbury is a real blow, but as Dyche himself said in the build-up to Saturday's game - regardless of the players at his disposal, his side must simply do the "basics and ugly stuff" better than their opponents, which so far they have failed to do.

Recent form (all competitions): LDLD

Brentford

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A much-needed first win of the campaign for Brentford in a topsy-turvy affair against Bristol City in their last outing has helped provide some hope for supporters.

The new approach taken by the board, favouring statistics in an attempt to go one better than last season and earn promotion to the Premier League, got off to a somewhat slow start.

An incredible turnaround at the death against Ipswich Town glossed over things slightly, while matters took a turn for the worse when falling 4-0 at Oxford United in the first round of the League Cup.

Questions may possibly have been asked of owner Matthew Benham had the Bees fallen to another heavy defeat at Ashton Gate, but the battling displays of last season were on show in a 4-2 triumph.

Andre Gray was on the scoresheet in that one, ironically helping to give his side the lead against a team reportedly weighing up an £8m bid for his services.

While the talk surrounding the striker's future looks destined to rumble on, Marinus Dijkhuizen must simply gear his side up for the trip North after having an additional few days off.

As 22 sides faced off in the Championship in midweek, Brentford were given a rest of sorts due to - embarrassingly - their pitch not being up to the required standards.

That forced their meeting with Birmingham City to be postponed, yet despite playing one game fewer than most others, Brentford head into this weekend's match just one point off the playoff zone.

Recent form (all competitions): DLW

Team News

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James Tarkowski will be a part of Brentford's travelling party for the trip to Turf Moor, despite breaking his nose in the win over Bristol City.

Spanish winger Jota is expected to remain on the sidelines until November, meanwhile, and club-record signing Andreas Bjelland is unlikely to feature again this campaign.

Marcos Tebar and Nico Yennaris will return to training soon, but neither is likely to play a part prior to the upcoming international break.

In terms of the visitors, Lukas Jutkiewicz was dropped for the midweek meeting with Ipswich, which is likely to remain the case on Saturday afternoon.

Vokes and Rouwen Hennings are the men expected to start in attack for the Clarets, with a lack of midfield creativity proving to be a problem for Dyche to contend with.

Burnley possible starting lineup:
Heaton; Darikwa, Keane, Mee, Ward; Kightly, Arfield, Jones, Taylor; Vokes, Hennings

Brentford possible starting lineup:
Button; McCormack, Dean, Tarkowski, Bidwell; Diagouraga, Judge, Kerschbaumer; Gogia, Hofmann; Gray

Head To Head

Brentford have not got the better of Burnley in league competition since back in 1997, when goals from Carl Hutchings and Kevin Rapley secured a 2-1 win.

The two sides have not actually met in more than a decade, however, with this the first meeting since the Clarets defeated the Bees 3-0 in the FA Cup in 2002-03.

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We say: Burnley 2-1 Brentford

Burnley may not have picked up a three-point haul this campaign, but with a bit more urgency about them - as witnessed already at times this season - they should have too much for Brentford to claim a narrow home win.

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