Burnley vs Montpellier Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Sean Dyche and his Burnley side worked miracles throughout the 17/18 season, finishing an incredible 7th place and above teams such as Everton and Leicester, who had far larger budgets than Dyche had to work with. The club is now in the swing of a first European campaign in 55 years and it started with a respectable 1-1 draw with Aberdeen last Thursday.

However, the summer transfer window hasn’t been particularly kind to them. They are only one of two Premier League sides, Tottenham being the other, who have not signed any new players to the squad. With the additional games Europe brings, the squad could begin to show fatigue very quickly into the season, which could have a huge effect on their league position. Rumours of signing players like Swansea defender Alfie Mawson have been bounded around the rumour mill but, as of yet, there is nothing concrete on the horizon.

Sean Dyche also has other selection issues to worry about. Nick Pope was carried off against Aberdeen with what looked like a serious shoulder injury and, coupled with the not-yet-fit players of Stefan Defour and Robbie Brady, key players from Burnley are unavailable coming into some crunch games.

Scoring goals is also a huge issue for Burnley. The team only averaged 0.95 goals per game last season and they will have to rely on Chris Wood and Sam Vokes to fire the team away from relegation danger, although Wood suffered several injuries last season and Vokes is not a prolific goalscorer in the Premier League. A few signings before the end of the window could give the whole club a massive boost but, at the moment, the lack of new personnel to solve the problems of last term could return to haunt Burnley.

The target for Montpellier this season surely must be to maintain the mid-table position they occupied last season, in which they finished a respectable 10th in the French top flight.

They have had a mixed set of pre-season results. A damaging 0-4 home loss to Clermont will have set alarm bells ringing but a subsequent win against Rodez and a draw against the illustrious Villarreal will have eased the nerves significantly and even enhanced the optimism for the season.

The major concern for the manager coming into this new season should be the lack of goal threat his team had last season. An average goals scored of 0.95 is not good enough if the team want to progress. Therefore, the signings of attacking midfielder Florent Mollet, as well as strikers Andy Delort and Petar Skuletic are tasked with improving this showing for the next season, and it will be interesting to see if they can.

In contrast, the team only conceded 0.87 goals per game last season, which will have to be repeated again this season in order for the team to improve on their 10th place finish. Although, the positive defensive results may be why promising young defender Nordi Mukiele was snapped up by RB Leipzig for big money this summer, who will be a big loss to the team. The signing of defender Damien le Tallec from Red Star will help to cover for this loss.

With these developments in mind, there is no reason as to why Montpellier cannot finish in the top-10 of the French division this coming season.

With both teams set up to be tight and defensive, focused primarily on not conceding, expect a low-scoring match at Montpellier. An “Under 1.5 goals” or a No to “Both Teams to Score” bet could hold real value for any accumulators you may be planning.

To pick a winner, with Burnley’s important second-leg Europa League tie against Aberdeen coming up this week and with a number of injury problems, Sean Dyche will surely be looking to rest players in order for the main squad to refresh, whilst Montpellier have no such concerns. Therefore, backing Montpellier to grab a goal and win 1-0against a second-string, albeit still well-drilled, Burnley side could be a winner.