Former Everton winger Aaron Lennon pinpoints key Burnley advantage in relegation six-pointer

Former Everton winger Aaron Lennon has admitted there is ‘no hiding’ from the magnitude of Wednesday’s meeting between the Toffees and current club Burnley.

But the former England man has also said he believes the Turf Moor advantage should give the Clarets a great chance of taking all three points.

Lennon spent four seasons at Goodison between 2014-2018, scoring seven Premier League goals in 65 appearances before moving to Burnley.

And now, with his current and former side meeting on Wednesday amid a relegation scrap, the 34-year-old believes the home advantage and Burnley’s experience can prove the difference between the two.

“It is a massive game, there’s no hiding from it.” Lennon told Burnley’s club site.

“We look at the [Premier League] table and know how big this is, it’s at home and for us to get three points would put us in a strong position going into the weekend.

“We just have to do what we do. We know how to win these games and know what we’re like at home, so we need to stick to our strengths and go out there with the right attitude to give it everything.

“Nobody likes coming to Turf Moor and if we’re at it, then we have a great chance.”

Sean Dyche and Burnley have been involved relegation fights for the majority of their time in the Premier League and the belief for most of the season has been that they would fight their way out of it.

If that is to be the case then they are leaving it as late as they ever have, but Lennon insisted that there’s no panic at the club and that he and his team mates are confident they can pick up the points.

“This group has been in and around it before. There’s no panic in the dressing room.” Lennon added.

“We know the situation that we’re in, but right now, we’re still confident.

“We’ve looked at the games and we know that if we do what we can do, then we can still get out of this. It’s a difficult task, but we’re very capable as a group.

“With the run in that we have, there’s still a lot of opportunities for us to go and win football games.”

Turf Moor no fortress but Everton’s away form damning

Lennon’s claim that ‘nobody likes coming to Turf Moor’ is one that has echoed throughout the Premier League for some time, but it’s certainly been less true this campaign.

Sean Dyche’s side have only won twice at home all season - albeit from only three wins altogether - and hold the third-worst home record in the Premier League.

They’ve also lost their last three at Turf Moor without scoring a single goal, scoring two in their last eight.

The only thing worse than Burnley’s home form, however, is Everton’s away form. The Toffees haven’t won on the road since August, losing all of the last five and nine of the last 10.

Sunday’s trip to West Ham saw a positive start transform into a complete capitulation with one poor touch from Alex Iwobi and one rash tackle from Michael Keane, highlighting the fragility of the squad and the inexperience of fighting for survival.

That red card adds Keane to the list of up to nine first-team players that could be unavailable for Wednesday’s crucial game.

Neither side can really afford to take a point from this game in hand, with defeat an absolute disaster. Come away with three points and the Toffees can pull six clear of Watford with a game in hand, whereas defeat will leave them just a point off Burnley.