Preview Panel - Burnley

We've a Five Live special on our latest Preview Panel as Spurs fan and presenter of the daytime slot Nihal Arthanayake and Burnley fan and co-presenter of Drive, Tony Livesey, give their views on Monday evening's clash at Turf Moor. They are joined by our legendary former goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who finished his career at Burnley.

Introducing the panel...

Paul Robinson - One of the most popular players of the modern era, goalkeeper ‘Robbo’ joined us from Leeds United in the summer of 2004, and within months, was England’s number one. He lifted the League Cup in 2008 and made 175 appearances for us between 2004-08. He also famously scored a goal against Watford in March, 2007. He earned 41 caps for England. Now a regular across a number of media platforms, Paul was at a pundit with Premier Sports our recent Europa League play-off win against Maccabi Haifa.

Nihal Arthanayake - Nihal currently presents a daily daytime show on BBC 5 Live, and his unique interviewing style was recently recognised at the BBC Radio and Music Awards where he won Interview of the Year. He's a Spur through and through, and he went to the same school in Harlow as Glenn Hoddle!

Tony Livesey - Burnley fan and presenter of the BBC 5 Live's Drive show with Anna Foster, Monday-Friday, Tony previously worked for BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC North West, where he presented Late Kick Off. He's also appeared as a guest on the likes of Have I Got News for You, What The Papers Say and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

What have you made of our start to the season?

Robbo: "West Ham was disappointing, but you could argue that the own goal was a bit of a freak, and the goal that drew them level was one in a million. Other than that, it's been a decent start to the season. I'm really excited by the squad, and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a strange Premier League with all the goals going in. I believe there is a real opportunity for Spurs to do something. I'm really optimistic, and we all know Jose wants to win everything."

Nihal: "It has been exhilarating and frustrating in equal measure. We are playing some beautiful football and Kane and Son have been combining to devastating (and terrifying if you're the opposition) effect. But, the Newcastle and West Ham games were so frustrating, especially West Ham. The return of Gareth Bale has given us all a boost and while it wasn't exactly an ideal re-introduction (against West Ham), it is amazing to see him in a Spurs kit again."

What do you expect from Burnley at Turf Moor?

Robbo: "A rugged, solid defence, and Burnley will be hard to beat, hard to break down. The key for Spurs is to score an early goal, because Burnley will have a game plan to frustrate. They will play longer, a bit more direct, and that will be something a few of the Spurs lads haven't experienced before. It's a tough place to go, but get that early goal and throw out their game plan. That's the key to playing against a Sean Dyche side, start on the front foot, attack, because if they get to half-time at 0-0, that's game plan achieved, and the longer it stays 0-0, the more it will be to Burnley's advantage. However, I'm not saying they will just sit in for the whole game. They can cause teams problems as well, but the key to winning there is getting at them, getting an early goal and making them change their game plan."

Nihal: "Burnley have the ability to frustrate us. I am looking forward to seeing us put the game to bed early, and rather than taking our feet off the gas to keep going and going and show a ruthlessness that seemed to be lacking in the second half against West Ham."

Any Burnley-Spurs memories?

Robbo: "We played Burnley in my first season at Spurs (2004/05) in the League Cup (9 November, 2004). We won 3-0. I always remember because we changed our travel plans and flew up on the morning of the game. Martin Jol told us, 'we're going to try something different', so we flew up, went to the hotel, lunch, quick sleep and play. We knew it was going to be tough, but we won handsomely. It was a great performance in what was my first cup game for Spurs (Kasey Keller played in our first two rounds of the League Cup that season)."

Nihal: "Sonny single-handedly taking the ball from just outside our penalty box and then running almost the entire length of the pitch and scoring the goal of the season last season was an extraordinary thing to behold. Let's have a few of those!"

The view from Turf Moor...

What have you made of Burnley’s start to the season?
Tony: "It’s been a shaky start to say the least but we’re used to that at Burnley. Even after five straight years in the Premier League we assume nothing, so we will treasure our single point so far and go again. We drew with Spurs towards the end of last season and I’d take that on Monday night, no problem. Sean Dyche has built a side with a strong jaw. As a result we can take a heavy defeat or a bad run on the chin and simply focus on the next game."

How do you think Burnley will approach this game against Spurs, and which player should we look out for?
Tony: "Our captain Ben Mee is back in full training and I’d love to see him back at centre-half, but not sure how fit he is. He epitomises this Burnley side, once tackling a striker who had the ball at his feet in our box with his HEAD! Dwight McNeill is our rising star whose delivery for crosses can be a beautiful thing to behold. And up front we’ll probably start with Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes; big blokes who nobody likes - which we like!"

Any Burnley-Spurs memories?
Tony: "I’ll gloss over my trip to your new stadium last season when a 5-0 thumping was one of the most embarrassing away trips I’ve ever been on. Instead, I’ll take you back to the night of 19 January, 1983, and a League Cup quarter-final at White Hart Lane. We were on the verge of relegation to the old Division Three, we’d sacked our manager on the morning of the game and I’d been made to neck my vodka and Vimto at the turnstile before they’d let me in the ground! As me and my mates piled onto one of over 40 coaches heading south we thought we were going to get stuffed. Spurs opened the scoring and I clearly remember the tannoy announcement saying: '...and Tottenham’s FIRST goalscorer is...’ It was going to be a long night. And then... we scored FOUR including, from memory, two own goals from Graham Roberts, before we sang our way along what seemed a five-mile police escort back to the buses. It was a rare moment of joy for us as The Clarets hurtled towards the bottom of Division Four just four years later; but a turbulent past like that means we can take a few dodgy Premier League results these days with a pinch of salt."