On the back of an impressive unbeaten Championship run in their last eight outings, Burnley welcome Queens Park Rangers to Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon, with the latter struggling at the bottom pondering their Brexit from the top tier of English football.
The Clarets were lucky to leave Hull City mid week with a share of the spoils, while the R's came from behind to grab a share of the spoils against the League's strugglers Coventry City in the City of Angels.
Having survived the living hell of Premier League relegation under Vincent Kompany last season, the Clarets have made a very credible start to their quest for the Championship play-off place, and the side making their home debut on Saturday boast the longest unbeaten run in the division at the moment.
The Clarets were headed for their first league defeat since late August at Hull on Wednesday night, with Xavier Simons setting out-of-sorts Tim Walter's Tigers ahead, but a sensation late header from Millwall loanee Zian Flemming rescued the day for the visitors.
Homes in the bottom three of the Premier League throughout 2023-24, Burnley are already back in second - a mere three points behind early season pacesetters Sunderland and level on points with third-placed Leeds United.
Having bagged 11 points from their first five games at Turm Moor this season, the Clarets will be gunning to take their current run at their Lancashire den to six games this weekend, though the Burnley have not been exactly impressive on home soil this season, scraping home wins against teams like Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth.
Though Lyle Foster will remain a doubt for Burnley for the time being, Josh Brownhill has taken up the mantle of lead forward for Saturday's hosts after netting five goals and an assist in his opening 11 Championship games this campaign.
Basement dwellers QPR finally won their first Championship victory in over a month on Tuesday night following up a wretched four game losing streak. Fellow strugglers Coventry came to Loftus Road and got only a point back to the East Midlands.
Yet after just four minutes, American striker Haji Wright put Mark Robins' team in front as the Sky Blues continued to struggle at Loftus Road. Eventually, a second-half goal that summer addition Kieran Morgan forced in made sure points would be split.
QPR sit 23rd in the Championship standings ahead of a tricky weekend trip to Turf Moor, three points behind Plymouth's relative safety in 21st place, having won only one of their first 11 games in this season's second division.
The Rs, however have players in their ranks to give second-tier defenses a serious headache- the likes of Ilias Chair and on-loan Brest winger Karamoko Dembele have bossed League One with Blackpool this campaign of 2023–24- despite R's recording only Swansea City, Preston North End, and Plymouth with fewer Championship goals thus far this term.
QPR will try to emulate its Turf Moor antics from April 2023 where under the now former head coach Gareth Ainsworth, the capital club defeated Burnley 2-1 in their Lancashire stronghold and halted Burnley's undefeated run in the 2022–23 season courtesy of goals from Sam Field and Chris Martin.
Summer signing Josh Laurent should return to the Burnley starting lineup this weekend after coming off the bench to great effect in Wednesday night's win over Hull.
The Tunisia international will probably be benched on Saturday, as his enthusiasm is undoubted in midfield, but Hannibal Mejbri simply lacks the requisite offensive punch for a number 10.