Fleetwood Town host Burton Albion on Saturday afternoon in Sky Bet League One in a mid table clash with the two sides 13th and 14th respectively, and here is your preview ahead of the game.
Town welcome Burton to Highbury this weekend and with both sides on 27 points for the season, there’s a lot to play for when the game gets under way at 3pm this Saturday.
Fleetwood suffered a defeat last weekend to high-flying Luton Town, and return to home where they look back on two consecutive clean sheets with the draw against Walsall, and the 3-0 win over Coventry.
Joey Barton spoke to the media ahead of the match, and here is what he had to say…
Town boss Joey Barton said…
“The two clubs closely chart either one when you think about it. Burton had a spike and had a couple of seasons up in the Championship, and came back down. Fleetwood went past them at one point, then Burton went past them, so I can see why Nigel [Clough] would say we are similar.
“Historically over the last decade both clubs have been disruptors in terms of where they have come from. For us, you want to look at the Burton success model with our similar footprint to get into the Championship.
“They are a good side having dropped out of the Championship last season. They have some good players – players I’ve played against like Stephen Quinn – it will be a challenge.
“I’m finding out with League One that every game has its subtleties, but every game is really competitive. The league is starting to take shape as we get towards Christmas, with the big teams with the big budgets going towards the top of the division and it’s up to the rest of us to stick with them.”
Burton manager Nigel Clough said…
“We will certainly have to factor the travelling in and the impact that has as we are going to spend a lot of hours on the bus.
“We will put our best team out on Saturday and do that again on Tuesday and then look at where we are at after the two games in three days and with the travelling and see if anyone is feeling anything at that point. That may be the effects of the tiredness from the travelling or from knocks from the two games.
“We want to play like we did at Charlton but still win – we don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t. But over the 46 games you can’t always play like that. Sometimes you need other qualities and having Jake Buxton and Ben Turner fit is important in giving us more options.”
Last five results in Sky Bet League One (from the left):
Fleetwood Town: L D L W L (Currently 13th on 27 points)
Burton Albion: W W L L W (Currently 14th on 27 points)
Last time we met…
The last time Fleetwood and Burton Albion met was back in March 2016 at the Pirelli Stadium, which saw Burton Albion win 2-1 on the day thanks to two goas from Mark Duffy. Fleetwood Town’s goal scorer was Wes Burns, with Ash Hunter the only player in the starting eleven that afternoon, who is still at the club.
Town beat Burton 1-0 in the League Two Play-Off Final at Wembley on the 26th May 2014 with Antoni Sarcevic scoring that free-kick from long range, and it is a day the club look back at as another moment in history with six promotions in ten years.
One to Watch
Liam Boyce, who started off his career in Ireland at Cliftonville, is this weekend’s danger man as he has nine goals to his name so far this season, with his latest one in his sides 2-1 victory over Shrewsbury Town.
The 27-year-old had a short spell at Werder Bremen II back in the 2010/11 season, but soon returned to Cliftonville where he then went onto win the league title with the club for the first time since 1998, scoring 29 league goals.
Boyce joined Ross County and scored his first ever top-flight hat-trick in a 3–0 win at St Mirren. He then enjoyed a prolific season in 2015/16, scoring 17 goals in 24 games. A year later, the forward was the top goal scorer in the 2016/17 Scottish Premiership, with 23 goals.
In 2017, Burton signed Boyce for a club record fee and has gone onto score 27 goals in the 18 months he has been with Nigel Clough at Burton.
Betting Preview
Town go into this game priced at 17/10 to pick up all three points against Burton, with the away side currently at 6/4 to take all the points back to Staffordshire come 5pm on Saturday afternoon.
A draw at Highbury Stadium between the two is priced at 11/5.
For Fleetwood to win and both teams to score is priced at 11/2, and for the home side to win 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1, the odds are at 5/2.
You can find more odds on the game here on SkyBet. Please gamble responsibly. All odds are subject to change.