Relegation-threatened Burnley host fallen giants Liverpool on Boxing Day, with both sides going into the match with a point to prove.

Seeing as the Clarets had been seen as the main candidates for the drop before the season started, we can say they have done well to still have a fair chance of beating relegation at Christmas.

Burnley needed a while to get going, but a very good run of results in November saw them leave the bottom three, although they are now back in the danger zone.

Sean Dyche’s charges could do little to avoid away defeats to QPR and Spurs, but they continued the good home run by beating Southampton and now sit in the bottom three by virtue of goal difference alone.

The Clarets have some difficult games on the horizon, and they can be backed at 4.80 (19/5) to defeat Liverpool at Turf Moor.

Important striker Sam Vokes will be in contention for starting places for the first time this season, but Michael Duff and Stephen Ward have been ruled out.

Former West Ham midfielder Matt Taylor could also be back in action after recovering from a difficult Achilles problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Heaton – Trippier, Keane, Shackell, Mee – Boyd, Marney, Jones, Arfield – Ings, Barnes.

Midway through the league campaign Liverpool sit in 10th position in the standings, huge 20 points behind leaders Chelsea.

This alone speaks volumes about the problems Brendan Rodgers and his men experienced in the opening exchanges and it remains to be seen whether the Reds can get their campaign back on track.

Liverpool have improved considerably since the embarrassing 3-0 loss at Old Trafford, with Rodgers’ switch to 3-4-3 yielding very good results.

With both Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert misfiring, the manager fielded Raheem Sterling up front, and the team in turn produced very good performances against Bournemouth and Arsenal.

Riding on that wave, the Reds will be very motivated to see off Burnley as well and they are available at 1.85 (17/20) to claim maximum points.

Mario Balotelli returns from a one-match ban, but Joe Allen and Fabio Borini miss out through injury and suspension respectively.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-3): Jones – Toure, Skrtel, Sakho – Henderson, Lucas, Gerrard, Markovic – Lallana, Sterling, Coutinho.