Gameweek 4 line-up hints in Burnley’s Europa League exit

Burnley’s exit from the Europa League may well see the Lancashire outfit become a side of Fantasy Premier League interest once again.

After a 1-1 draw with Olympiakos at Turf Moor on Thursday night, they were eliminated 4-2 on aggregate.

The players involved, and those that weren’t, have given us a fairly decent idea of who might start their Gameweek 4 meeting with Manchester United.

We have also looked ahead to the Clarets’ fixtures after the international break to assess where they may become useful to FPL managers.

Burnley 1-1 Olympiakos (2-4 on aggregate)

• Goals: Matej Vydra (£6.0m)
• Assists: Jeff Hendrick (£5.5m)

Burnley centre-back Ben Mee (£5.0m) may be at risk of rotation when Manchester United come to Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon. The 28-year-old filled the void left by suspended Ben Gibson (£4.9m) as the Clarets were eliminated from the Europa League by Olympiakos on Thursday night. He played alongside Kevin Long (£4.5m) with James Tarkowski (£5.0m) an unused substitute. Given that Mee played for the full 90 minutes it is possible that Gibson may take his place in the league for Gameweek 4.

There was a second start of the campaign for Tom Heaton (£5.0m), although it does appear that he could be the goalkeeper for cup competitions for now. After he made his comeback for the first leg in Greece last week doubt was cast over Joe Hart’s (£4.5m) place in the side but he went on to start the next league match. It is possible the same thing may happen again this week but manager Sean Dyche is still yet to field a question on the subject.

Which player will feature on the left-wing for Burnley, with Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) not expected to be fit in time and Robbie Brady (£5.4m) still out, remains to be seen. FPL defender Charlie Taylor (£4.5m) came on for the injured Icelandic international in a straight swap at Fulham, and would have been a shoe-in had he not played 90 minutes at left-back on Thursday night. At the very least, that firms up Stephen Ward‘s (£5.0m) place in the team for Sunday, as he was an unused substitute.

Operating on the left flank against Olympiakos was teenager Dwight McNeil (not yet in FPL), making his first start of the season. The youngster registered 405 minutes during the pre-season campaign and has impressed in his appearances so far, the most recent prior to last night being against Aberdeen. He was replaced by Chris Wood (£6.5m) in the 75th minute so has had more rest than Taylor ahead Manchester United’s visit to Turf Moor.

“(McNeil) did great against Aberdeen, and again tonight, and each time that experience level goes up. That little bit of belief gets added, and we hope he grows more belief from tonight. It’s early days, but we do like what he’s doing. And he’s there on merit. Opportunity came his way with Johann (Berg Gudmundsson) going down, and he’s taken a real step forward.” – Sean Dyche

Ashley Barnes (£5.8m) and Sam Vokes (£5.4m) were the strike pairing with Wood only featuring for 15 minutes. Barnes made way for goal-scorer Matej Vydra (£6.0m) in the 65th minute, suggesting that he should be chosen up front alongside Wood again on Sunday.

Aaron Lennon (£5.0m) was another first-team option who started the European encounter but was replaced in the 75th minute by Jack Cork (£4.9m), securing his place in Sunday’s line-up.

Perhaps also of importance was Dyche’s reaction to Burnley’s exit from the European competition. Now that the Clarets are out they should be able to get back to the basics that made them so successful both in 2016/17 and 2017/18. That may be good news for FPL managers as Burnley have a run of fairly favourable fixtures from Gameweeks 5 to 8, in Wolves (away), Bournemouth (home), Cardiff (away) and Huddersfield (home).

“I thought we dominated the game and dominated the chances. The biggest bug bear is you’ve got to take your chances. We created enough chances. I wanted our team to get back to their identify and I feel that clearly happened today. No disappointments, just learning. We were effective. I thought we had so many chances, it could easily have gone our way. It was an excellent performance, we created so many chances. Winning it was the least we deserved and we could have gone through but we didn’t take our chances. It was back to our identity, a never-say-die attitude. I’m very pleased and very proud of the players. I think the whole club will learn from this. It bodes well for the future but we’ve got to use it wisely.” – Sean Dyche

BURNLEY XI (4-4-2): Heaton; Taylor, Mee, Long, Bardsley; McNeil (Wood 75′), Hendrick, Westwood, Lennon (Cork 75′); Barnes (Vydra 65′), Vokes.

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