Burnley's unsung hero Sunderland will have to watch as Vincent Kompany's side are handed injury boost

Vincent Kompany’s side are 13 points clear at the top of the table and have lost just twice in the league all season.

To find out more, we caught up with Burnley reporter Dan Black from our sister title the Burnley Express on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here

How will Burnley approach the game?

DB: “I think if you were to look through the statistics there are probably not many games where they haven’t had 65% plus of the ball. They have been very, very dominant.

“They were dominant in earlier games of the season without it really clicking as much, but now it’s all come together and they are all understanding of each other's' positions and where they need to be.

“They are just going at teams from all different areas of the pitch and it’s frightening at times.

“As Burnley start taking more and more control and more and more territory teams drop deeper and are just sitting ducks at times.

“It’s 14 games this season now in which they’ve scored three or more goals and it could have been a lot more at times.”

What’s the latest team news?

DB: “In terms of playing us it’s probably come at the worst possible time for Sunderland

“Burnley have just come through a bad patch in terms of injuries. Taylor Harwood-Bellis has been missing, Ian Maatsen has been missing, Josh Brownhill has been out.

“Kompany said they’ve had a full bill of health and everyone is available for training. I don’t think everyone will be in contention to play the Sunderland game and I don’t think we’ll see Jay Rodriguez or Josh Brownhill because they’ve not had any minutes.

“Manuel Benson has had a bit of game time after being out injured so he’ll come back into it. For the first time in a long time we might see the trio of Nathan Tella, Benson and Anass Zaroury playing behind Ashley Barnes, which is a frightening prospect.

“They have had 13 players away on international duty, a few playing for under-21s sides, and I think the only player who is doubtful is Lyle Foster who is a South Africa striker who I believe has had some passport issues so is struggling to get back.”

Who else should Sunderland look out for?

DB: “I think Vincent Kompany didn’t want to be dependent on one main goalscorer, or one leading goalscorer. He wanted goals to come from all over the pitch.

“This season they have had 19 different goalscorers, and if you are coming up with those kind of numbers it’s only going to lead to success.

“For me one of the unsung heroes of the piece this season has been Josh Cullen in the middle of the park. He’s been outstanding, he’s such a good ball player, very composed on the ball, very confident and just makes everything tick.

“When he’s on form, Burnley are on form and you kind of notice how much they miss him when he isn’t in the team.”