Luciano Becchio is still struggling to shake off the hamstring injury he suffered against Watford two weeks ago, and he might have to miss our vital game against Burnley on Saturday. But the good news is that we have no new injury worries going into the game.

Knowing Simon Grayson’s preference for a 4-5-1 formation Billy Paynter will probably be on his own up front, but seeing as we need to pull the stops out and go for the win, I’d like to see him throw caution to the wind and play with two strikers. It’s got to be worth trying Paynter and Somma as a partnership.

One other player we’ll have to do without is Barry Bannan, who has been recalled by Aston Villa, to bring his loan spell to an abrupt end. Simon Grayson told the official site "We always knew there was a possibility that Barry could be recalled and I understand why Villa want him back. I'd like to thank them for allowing him to come to us. I hope he enjoyed his time here and we wish Barry and Villa all the best for the last few weeks of the season."

To stand any chance of reaching the play-offs Leeds need nothing less than wins in both the last two games, which seems a tall order after our slump of recent weeks. But as usual the players are talking a good game, this time represented by Andy O’Brien in the Evening Post. He said “Until it’s mathematically impossible, we won’t be giving up. We’ve got a big game against Burnley and we can give ourselves one last chance.” And it might help if O’Brien and co manage to keep it tight at the back.

Burnley have had an up and down season, but last week they finally managed to overtake Leeds in the race for the play-offs. They started the season with the financial advantage of the massive ‘parachute payments’ from the premier league, but the handicap of having Brian Laws as manager. When we came from behind to win 3-2 at Turf Moor in December there were plenty of Burnley fans calling for his dismissal on their messageboards after the lack of fight the team showed in that game.

In the new year they got their wish, and Eddie Howe arrived from Bournemouth to take charge. And he made an impact, winning six of his first nine games in the league as they climbed to seventh in the table, but then they stalled, with a desperate run of only one point in six games. Then just when they seemed to have blown it they produced a run of three consecutive wins to pull themselves back into play-off contention. If only Leeds could produce something similar.

So it’s hard to know what to expect from Burnley, but once again I’m going to embarrass myself by predicting a Leeds win. Don’t forget that the game kicks off at 12.45 and that the tickets are sold out.  And the club are asking fans to keep off the pitch while Simon and the boys do their end of season lap of honour. We can only hope that by the end of the game we will have something to celebrate.

Photo: Action Images

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