Cardiff currently occupy tenth place in the Championship, just one point below the Clarets on 38 points. We have already met this season, at the Turf, in an exciting (for the neutral) 3-3 draw. In a game we led twice through two Wade Elliott goals, Cardiff then went 3-2 up. Burnley were rescued though with a late, late equaliser from James O'Connor, sneaking in to head us level and steal a point.

Last season saw a 1-0 victory for Burnley thanks to a late Richard Chaplow winner handing us all the points at the Turf in a dull affair, but Cardiff took the spoils in a 2-0 victory at Ninian Park, courtesy of strikes from Richard Langley and Graham Kavanagh in what was a disappointing display from the Clarets.

Anyway, back to the present day, and onto the teams. The Clarets welcome back Gifton Noel-Williams from an eye injury, and he is expected to be named amongst the subs, whilst Frank Sinclair should play after this week seeing a specialist over a fractured finger. Lee Grant will be amongst the subs in what is his final game for the Clarets before returning to Derby as a result of his loan spell coming to an end.

Cardiff have been busy in the transfer market in the past fortnight, and will hand a debut to striker Steven Thompson, signed from Rangers this week. Alan Lee is no longer a Bluebird after signing for Ipswich in a £100,000 deal, and he was followed out of the door by Finn Toni Koskela, who has moved into Greek football. Michael Ricketts has gone back to Leeds after a deal to extend his loan spell could not be reached, and another new signing is striker Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu, signed from Darlington, and he is expected to be named amongst the subs. 10 goals in 10 games for Darlington alerted Dave Jones to secure his services for the rest of the season at least.

The game sees a battle of two of Warnock's transfer targets in Akinbiyi and Jerome, although most strikers are targets of Warnock's these days. It's sure to be an interesting one with two teams who have play-off aspirations. Let's hope we can get back to winning ways on the road, or at least return to Lancashire with a handy point against our play-off chasing rivals.

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