If miles traveled were goals, Burnley would beat Fulham by 12,552 to 21.

by Steve Clare

It has been an emotional week for Burnley with the death of legend Jimmy McIlroy.

To add to that, the side played in the Athenian port city Piraeus (2224.6 miles fro Burnley) in midweek losing 3-1 to Olympiakos in the Europa League. Having also traveled to Istanbul (3449.9 miles), Southampton (261.8 miles)  and Aberdeen (339.9 miles), the Clarets have already faced an exhausting schedule, totaling 6276.2 miles one way, or a round trip of 12,552.4 miles, before the end of August to play competitive football.

On Sunday, they travel another 244.7 miles to the banks of the Thames to play a Fulham side which even by full time will not have left London this season. Their one away trip was to Wembley to play Spurs, a mere 10.5 miles away, a sharp contrast to Burnley’s weary total of 12,797.1 miles by the time the game kicks off.

Frankly there could not, and probably has never been, a game between two sides one of whom has traveled 6000 times as far as the other.

This alone surely makes Fulham favourites despite the match also being last season’s 7th best team in the EPL against the side who needed a play off to win promotion from the Championship.

Both sides lost their last match 3-1, Fulham to Spurs and Burnley away in Greece.

Neither side did especially well in the match before that. Burnley surprisingly lost by the same score at home to Watford and Fulham lost 0-2 at home to Crystal Palace. With all due respect, those are fixtures most sides will expect to win – especially at home.

It’s too early for panic of course.

After seven games, the three promoted sides are still seeking their first win. following Wolves early draw with Manchester City. Fulham especially have so significantly upgraded their squad that it was always likely the new players would take time to get acquainted.

Burnley did the double over Fulham the last time the two met in the league, winning 2-3 in London and 3-1 at home in the 2015/15 Football League season.

TEAM NEWS

For Fulham, Denis Odoi returns from suspension while Burnley are likely to have Joe Hart in goal. American defender Tim Ream has not recovered in time to make his season debut in the Fulham defence and new signings Alfie Mawson and Floyd Ayite are also not fit enough to start.

The weariness of Sean Dyche’s Burnley squad may force some changes upon him. Aaron Lennon, Ashley Westwood, Matt Lowton, and James Tarkowski were all rested for the Greek trip and could add freshness to the Burnley XI.

PREDICTION:

Fulham 3 : 1 Burnley