Burnley v Crystal Palace Preview: Burnley welcome Palace to Turf Moor as both sides look to edge closer to safety.

Turf Moor has become somewhat of a fortress over the last couple of months, seeing Burnley pick up 13 points from a possible 15 since late December; including an impressive 2-1 win over Spurs, despite some controversy.

Sean Dyche's men spent the majority of December in the relegation zone, and started to look like serious contenders for the drop, but have now only lost one match in their last nine Premier League fixtures, giving Burnley fans serious reason to believe they will be spending at least another season at the summit of English football.

Chris Wood and Premier League Player of the Month nominee, Ashley Barnes, have been at the heart of the Clarets revival, combining for eight goals in their last five appearances, and with the absence of Mamadou Sakho, their rich vein of form may well continue.

However, Crystal Palace are certainly not without a talisman of their own, Wilfried Zaha has scored four goals in his last four appearances for the Eagles, also earning the forward a Player of the Month nomination.

Palace have picked up more than half of their total points away from home so far this term, accumulating 17 of their 30 on the road; the same amount Burnley have picked up at Turf Moor. Both sides sit on 30 points, yet Palace sit one place higher in 14th thanks to a superior goal difference going into this fixture.

What happened last time the two sides met?

A Goal of the Month contender from Andros Townsend ensured all three points for the Eagles when Burnley made the trip to the capital in December.

Anything other than three points for Palace on the day would have been deemed an injustice as the hosts dominated throughout. James McArthur put Roy Hodgson's men ahead after just 16 minutes, which in reality could have easily have been their third at the time, as oppose to their first.

Despite Palace's continuous domination and 29 goal attempts, it took another 60 minutes for them to wrap up the game when Townsend fired a beauty into to top corner from outside the box to all but seal victory.

The away side were lacklustre to say the least, on a day which they failed to register a single shot on target; the 2-0 defeat left the Clarets in 19th position in the Premier League.

Team News

Burnley

Midfielder Ashley Westwood, who missed Burnley's 2-0 loss at Newcastle on Tuesday night due to illness, may be fully recovered to face the Eagles this weekend. Aaron Lennon and Steven Defour remain sidelined.

Dyche spoke to the club website regarding Westwood;“We’ve had enough injuries and didn’t want to start an illness thing, so we got him off in a car and away from the building... He’s not in today, even though he feels fine, just to be sure."

Crystal Palace

Hodgson has admitted that Aaron Wan-Bissaka is once again fit after missing the last three matches with a hamstring, and is in contention for the trip to Lancashire.

Sakho remains sidelined, along with Pape Souare, who is close to returning according to the Palace gaffer.

Hodgson had this to say; "Aaron Wan-Bissaka is fit again now which is a boost for us. Pape Souare is close to returning...Mamadou Sakho had his operation in Paris. The operation was completed successfully and we hope to get him back as soon as we can.”