Q.P.R. v Burnley. Match preview

Last updated : 03 January 2009 By Simon Davies

The only players not at his disposal are striker Rowan Vine and midfielder Akos Buzsaky who are both long-term injury absentees.

Sousa is likely to tinker with his starting line-up having used 18 players in the drawn games against Watford and Charlton over the festive period.

Buzsaky's cruciate-ligament injury means he is unlikely to feature again for the rest of the season but there was been some encouraging news with Vine.

The 26-year-old recently recently underwent a successful second operation on a broken leg and has now been given the all-clear to resume running, with a view to a possible first-team comeback around March.

Burnley will be without defensive duo Stephen Jordan and Steven Caldwell.

Left-back Jordan will miss out after picking up five yellow cards so far this season, while Scotland centre-back Caldwell serves the first of a two-match ban after receiving his second red card of the campaign in Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Doncaster.

The Clarets suffered no new injury worries in their loss at lowly Doncaster and but Coyle may opt to make changes after the defeat with midfielder Joey Gudjonsson and striker Steven Thompson pushing for starts.

Having suffered back-to-back defeats in the league, the fifth-placed Championship side will be looking to rediscover their form in their penultimate game before their Carling Cup semi-final first-leg with Tottenham on Tuesday.

Sporting Life