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Saturday 23rd December 5.30pm
Premier League
Turf Moor
The loss at City might not have been out of the blue, but the performance was appalling and a reaction is needed.
A trip to Burnley to play a side currently above us in the table might not be ideal for that, though.
Sean Dyche's side are very hard to break down at the best of times.
Will our team be able to recover from the latest blow and get the win that we need to overtake our hosts?
Burnley's season started off with a most uncharacteristic 3-2 win against champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
They took a 3-0 lead into the break, after Gary Cahill was dismissed early on, and nearly blew it in the 2nd half.
Both of those things are very unlike Dyche's sides in general and his Burnley team this season in particular.
They're currently 6th in the table, despite having only scored 16 goals in 18 games.
This is due to their Manchester matching defensive record, which has seen them concede a mere 12 times.
This Spurs side has scored one goal shy of double that of our hosts, but that probably doesn't tell the full story.
We've only conceded 18 ourselves, the 5th best in the division, but some of those have been very costly.
City battering aside, they've largely been spread out and have come in games where they're damaging.
The scoring's been quite concentrated, in contrast.
Liverpool, Stoke, West Ham, Everton and Huddersfield account for 18 of our 31 goals scored.
We know that teams playing an open game against us give us the opportunity to get goals and points.
We've struggled far more when sides are content to sit back, stay tight and hit us on the break or set-pieces.
Burnley are far more likely to present the second scenario.
Have we learned enough over the months to do what needs to be done?
The game at Wembley earlier in the season was an exercise in frustration.
We struggled to create chances against a well drilled side that all knew their jobs and did them well.
When Dele Alli finally broke the deadlock after the break, it seemed that we might take all three points.
Further chances were missed though and a failure to control the game late on was costly.
Chris Wood broke in behind from a Robbie Brady pass and leveled it up in injury time.
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The game at Turf Moor in the last campaign was similarly frustrating, but for very different reasons.
A dour first half was disrupted by injuries, as both Winks and Wanyama were forced off before the break.
The second half saw a few cracks open before Eric Dier fired home from a badly cleared corner.
Vincent Janssen joined the injured list shortly after that, which allowed Heung-Min Son to enter the fray.
He killed the game off with an easy finish from Dele Alli's pass a few minutes later, sealing a 2-0 win.
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Alderweireld and Wanyama miss out again through injury, though they're both back in training.
Davidson Sanchez is available again, following the last of his 3 game ban.
Brady and Heaton are both out for Burnley, while Ward faces a late test.
Tarkowski misses out, as he's been banned by the FA panel for an act of violent conduct against Brighton.
Lineups for each side's last league game:
Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Aurier, Foyth, Davies, Sissoko, Lamela, Llorente.
League form: LLDWWL.
Burnley: Pope; Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Cork, Defour, Arfield; Hendrick; Wood.
Subs: Lindegaard, Lowton, Long, Westwood, Barnes, Wells, Vokes.
League form: LWLWWD.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
TV: BT Sport 1.
How many changes are needed from the side that started against City and do we need to change our shape?
Is there anything in particular that we need to address to help break down stubborn defensive displays?
Is our bench well balanced enough to offer decent options to the manager or should he change it?
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