Match Preview
Burnley vrs Fulham
Premier League Match Day 16 25_26 at Turf Moor
Saturday 13th December 2025, KO: 17:30
Referee:
Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Live on Sky Sports
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Fulham visit Turf Moor on Saturday evening to face relegation threatened Burnley with both teams keen to return to winning ways.
The Cottagers and The Clarets face off for the first time since February 2024 when Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Muniz scored first half goals before Burnley salvaged a 2-2 home draw with two second-half goals by David Datro Fofana.
After claiming their first Premier League away win of the season at Tottenham (2-1) at the end of November, Fulham have since kick-started the month of December with back-to-back defeats at home to Manchester City and Crystal Palace.
Last weekend's 2-1 defeat to the Eagles - conceding the decisive goal in the 87th-minute - leaves the Cottagers languishing in 15th place in the table and just four points above the relegation zone, while speculation over the long-term future of head coach Marco Silva has begun to resurface.
Fulham have lost eight of their 15 Premier League games this season (W5 D2) and in three of the previous four instances they have suffered that many defeats at this stage, they have been relegated - in 2013-14 (10), 2018-19 (10) and 2020-21 (eight). The exception was in 2004-05 (nine, finished 13th).
Silva’s side travel to Turf Moor this weekend seeking to win their first away league match at Burnley since April 1951, as well as end a five-match winless run against the Clarets in the Premier League (D2 L3) since a 4-2 home victory in August 2018.
The Cottagers should have reason to be optimistic of success this time around, as they are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League matches against promoted teams (W6 D5), winning each of the last four in a row – never before have they won five successive top-flight games against promoted sides.
Since beating basement club Wolves 3-2 at Molineux at the end of October, Burnley have lost each of their last six Premier League games. They last endured a longer losing league run in January/February 1995 in the second tier (eight in a row), while in the top flight they have not lost more than six matches on the bounce since between March and September 1895 (eight).
The Clarets played for more than 45 minutes with 10 men as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United last weekend, their 11th Premier League loss of the season from 15 games that leaves them in 19th place in the table and already five points adrift of safety.
After conceding a record-low 16 goals in 46 Championship matches last season, Burnley have already shipped 30 goals in 15 games in the top flight this term, which is the fourth biggest rise in goals conceded per game (1.65 more than 2024-25) between successive seasons in the history of English football’s top-four tiers, and the biggest since Sheffield United in 2022-23 (0.85) and 2023-24 (2.74), a rise of 1.89 per match.
The pressure is beginning to mount on Scott Parker, who has lost 22 of his last 29 Premier League games as a manager (W4 D3), with Burnley’s current six-game losing run his second such run after losing six in a row as Fulham boss between May 2019 and October 2020. Only Daniel Farke has as higher losing ratio (67%) among PL managers with 50+ games than Parker (61% - 41/67).
Burnley supporters have had little to get excited about in recent weeks, but they will take comfort from the fact that the Clarets are remarkably unbeaten in their last 29 home league meetings with Saturday’s opponents Fulham - their longest ever run against an opponent at Turf Moor.
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Fulham are winless in their last five Premier League games against Burnley (D2 L3), since a 4-2 home win in August 2018.
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Burnley are unbeaten in their last 29 home league games against Fulham, their longest ever run against an opponent at Turf Moor. Their last defeat was in April 1951.
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Fulham are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games against promoted sides (W6 D5), winning each of the last four in a row. The Cottagers have never won five consecutive top-flight games against promoted teams before.
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Fulham have lost eight of their 15 Premier League matches this season (W5 D2). In three of the previous four instances they’ve lost that many at this stage they have been relegated – in 2013-14 (10), 2018-19 (10) and 2020-21 (8). The exception was in 2004-05 (9, finished 13th).
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Burnley boss Scott Parker will be just the third manager to face Fulham in the Premier League having managed the Cottagers in the competition. Roy Hodgson remained unbeaten in eight of his meetings with them after leaving (W3 D5), while Mark Hughes won one and lost three.
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Fulham’s Harry Wilson has been involved in a goal in each of his last three Premier League appearances (2 goals, 1 assist), his joint best run with a goal or assist. The last Welshman to do so in four games in a row was Brennan Johnson for Nottingham Forest in January/February 2023.
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Burnley have lost six consecutive Premier League matches. The Clarets last had a longer losing run in the league in January/February 1995 in the second tier (eight in a row), while in the top-flight they haven’t lost more than six games in a row since between March and September 1895 (8).
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After conceding just 16 goals in 46 Championship games last season, Burnley have shipped 30 in 15 games this season in the Premier League. It’s the fourth biggest rise in goals conceded per game (1.65 more than 2024-25) between consecutive seasons in the history of the top four tiers of English football, and biggest since Sheffield United in 2022-23 (0.85) and 2023-24 (2.74), a rise of 1.89 per game.
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Burnley manager Scott Parker has lost 22 of his last 29 Premier League matches (W4 D3), with this current six-game losing run with the Clarets his second such run after losing six in a row with Fulham between May 2019 and October 2020. Parker’s lost 61% of his Premier League games (41/67), with only Daniel Farke losing a higher ratio (67%) among managers with 50+ games.
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On home soil, Burnley’s Zian Flemming has played six Premier League matches and failed to score, having just five shots and one shot on target, while away from home he’s scored five in six games from 12 shots. Flemming has the joint most goals without scoring at home in Premier League history, along with Alan Cork and Mike Milligan.
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Source Oliver Thomas at SportsMole/BBCSports