Lancashire

Matt Jones
BBC Sport journalist

Brighton can give their European chances a major boost on Saturday, as they face Burnley at Turf Moor (15:00 BST) in the Premier League.

The Seagulls have bounced back well in recent weeks after a tough start to the calendar year. Any slender concerns around relegation have been banished by a run of four wins in five games, including an impressive 2-1 win against Liverpool last time out. They go into the weekend in 10th, just three points off the top seven.

As for Burnley, they are 10 points from safety with seven matches to play. It would take a remarkable turnaround in form for Scott Parker's side to pull themselves back into contention to stay up.

Burnley battling the inevitable

After a run of three draws and a win in all competitions in January, there was a small sense of Burnley building momentum. But their subsequent failure to kick on means relegation is almost certain at this stage.

Parker has been unable to find a formula that works at either end of the pitch this season. Up top, they have occasionally clicked into gear - albeit they have had the fewest shots (excluding blocked efforts) in the Premier League this season - but at the back they've consistently leaked goals.

Their total of 61 goals conceded is the highest of any team going into the weekend fixtures and in terms of style, Brighton do not appear to be an ideal match up.

The Seagulls rank first for high turnovers and only Tottenham Hotspur have faced more high turnovers than Burnley this season.

Still, in the past this fixture has been tight. Seven of the 13 Premier League meetings between Burnley and Brighton have been drawn, with both sides winning three. But at this stage, it feels like only wins will do for the Clarets.

Brighton bounce back

Losses to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in February felt like they could have been the beginning of the end for Fabian Hurzeler at Brighton, with supporters unhappy and the team toiling. But they have recovered superbly.

A 2-0 win at Brentford sparked a major turnaround in fortunes, and such is the congested nature of the table that the Seagulls are suddenly well in the mix for a European place.

The team have definitely tightened up in that time and have relied on the scoring exploits of Danny Welbeck to give them an edge. His brace against Liverpool took him to 12 goals for the season, one behind Glenn Murray's Premier League record for Brighton of 13.

Welbeck is also enjoying one of the most prolific seasons for a player of his age in Premier League history.

Brighton have also relied on a veteran in midfield. James Milner started his first game of the calendar year in the narrow loss to Villa and has been in the XI for all four of the wins across the past five games; he missed the only defeat in that run, against Arsenal.

While there has naturally been a lot of focus on Milner recently breaking the Premier League appearance record, he can still have an impact on games too and can still mix it physically as a 40-year-old.

In the first three of those starts he covered 11.63 km against Brentford, 11.4 km against Nottingham Forest and 11.94 km against Sunderland, the fourth, third and second highest in each fixture respectively.

Image source, Getty Images

The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

Social media has made the abuse of footballers "the norm", according to Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom.

Lancashire Police are investigating after Preston's Thierry Small was racially abused in an Instagram post following the own goal he scored in Monday's 1-1 draw with QPR in the Championship.

"Any sort of abuse is something I really don't like, but people are big and brave on social media," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"We know the police are involved and it's someone not connected to us, who lives out of the country and is known to have done it before, targeting players at other clubs so it looks like he's a professional idiot rather than just a one-off idiot."

Preston released a statement , externalcondemning the abuse aimed at Small but Heckingbottom said the problem is a difficult one to deal with.

"Social media plays a part in it because it becomes a norm - you see some of the stuff that's written on there is evil, so to cross that line to become racist, it's smaller because people are doing it all the time and it's just promoting it.

"It's a safe haven and nothing happens, we'll never see this guy, he won't do it to our faces.

"If it's someone at the stadium the police can deal with it, but to hide behind an online profile, it's just something we have to make sure Thierry knows we've got his back and the fans will show their love for him at the next game."

Preston are currently 14th in the Championship table and visit Charlton Athletic on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Listen to more Preston content and interviews on BBC Sounds.

During the international break, Axel Tuanzebe helped DR Congo reach their first World Cup in 52 years, and he called it "the greatest moment of my career."

Tuanzebe scored the winning goal in the World Cup play-off final against Jamaica to send his country to the showpiece event this summer.

Discussing the moment he made history, the defender said: "The manager spoke to me briefly after the game. He was emotional, in tears, and he was just relieved that we got the goal because the pressure was huge coming from the country and doing it for the country.

"There's a different sort of element when you're playing for your nation. Expectations, and you can see the other side of it, scrutiny side of it, should you lose.

"We all knew what was at stake. A lot of nerves creeping into the performance, but again, just great to get it over the line."

You can listen to the full interview with Tuanzebe by pressing play on the clip above

The Premier League's return this weekend brings trepidation for some and excitement for others.

Football's emotional rollercoaster becomes intense at this time of year, unless of course mid-table mediocrity has taken a grip of things in recent months.

So how are you feeling as an Burnley fan with just a handful of weeks left to go?

The league form reads: WDLLDL

The next three league fixtures are: Brighton (h), Nottingham Forest (a) and Manchester City (h)

Let us know how you're feeling here

Holly Bacon
BBC Sport journalist

Burnley boss Scott Parker has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Brighton at Turf Moor (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• The Burnley boss said the break has been good for everyone at the club: "It has been a long period, probably the longest that I've ever experienced. We had some downtime, gave the players some downtime, certainly after the Fulham game just to recuperate for many reasons - physically and mentally - and then we've worked pretty tough over the past couple of weeks. It has been a good period for all of us."

• Parker feels it was a "massive achievement" for Axel Tuanzebe to score the goal that secured World Cup qualification for DR Congo. He added: "I've seen the adulation he's got since he's got back, rightly so."

• He hopes Tuanzebe is fit to face Brighton: "He's not played a lot of football, obviously, and he's gone away and played 120 minutes. So he's come back in late as well so we'll see."

• Parker said Mike Tresor has "progressed more now, [but will need] a few more weeks training" and that Zeki Amdouni is back with them on the grass "albeit a bit modified". He also confirmed Jordan Beyer and Connor Roberts will still be a "little way off", while Hannibal Mejbri is probably a couple of weeks away, however, his issue is "not as bad" as they initially thought.

• The Burnley boss acknowledged they can't deny the challenge ahead is beginning to change with seven games of the season to go: "The longer you go on, every game that skips away that you don't manage to pick up those points, that challenge becomes much bigger."

• Parker insisted he has "pure focus" and looking at what might happen is a "drainer". He added: "It can only bring more doubt and you're certainly not going to get the best version [of yourselves]."

You can join Gary Hunt & Steve Eyre on BBC Radio Lancashire for commentary on 95.5FM on Saturday

Got a question about Burnley? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts