OXFORD United welcome Burnley on Saturday, looking to build on home form which has garnered three wins from three Sky Bet Championship games.

The Clarets, relegated from the Premier League last season, will undoubtedly pose the biggest threat to United so far this campaign.

We caught up with the Burnley Express’ Clarets writer Matt Scrafton to get the lowdown on the weekend’s visitors.

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What’s the start of the season been like for Burnley?

Eventful. Coming down from the Premier League, there was the inevitable sales of some of their best players, but it soon turned into a big summer of change, with 16 signings and 21 departures.

Prior to the window closing, before the likes of Dara O’Shea, Sander Berge and Wilson Odobert departed, Scott Parker had an incredibly strong squad to choose from and began the season in some style, beating Luton Town 4-1 away on the opening weekend before following it up with a 5-0 thrashing of Cardiff City.

The last couple of weeks of the window proved to be really difficult for the club though, with a number of first team players signalling that they wanted to move on.

All of a sudden, Burnley went from having an abundance of quality to being forced to name two goalkeepers on the bench against Sunderland and three youngsters. A frustrating 1-0 defeat followed.

But since then, the club ended the window strongly, bringing in some astute signings for this level and have since picked up some solid results, the highlight being the gutsy 1-0 away win at Leeds United.

Failing to beat 10-man Blackburn Rovers in the East Lancashire derby was frustrating but the Clarets managed to come from behind to beat Portsmouth at the death on Saturday, to see them move up to third in the table on 13 points.

Given the upheaval since the start of the season, Parker is understandably delighted with the start they’ve made.

Oxford Mail:

What’s the playing style and likeliest formation under Scott Parker?

Parker’s favoured formation is 4-2-3-1, which dates back to his days at Fulham and Bournemouth too.

He’s been quite open in the media that Burnley aren’t quite playing the style he wants them to just yet, given the big turnover in players, but they’re still finding a way to grind out results.

The Clarets will be patient with their build-up and will look to prod and probe to find a way through, but as we saw against Portsmouth, if a side is happy to sit back and let Burnley have the ball, it can make for relatively dull games with lots of side-to-side, slow passing.

That’s something Parker is clearly looking to work on, so it will be interesting to see how they approach this game at the Kassam.

Who are the key players to watch?

Luca Koleosho is the one player Burnley fans were desperate to keep hold of over the summer and, despite plenty of Premier League interest, he managed to stay put.

He’s an exciting young winger who’s only just turned 20. He can play on either flank but in recent weeks he’s been on the right wing.

Given his age, he’s still raw, but he’s got all the attributes to go right to the top, namely his electric pace and his dribbling ability.

Josh Brownhill, a midfielder who likes to get forward, is their top goalscorer so far, notching three from his first six games, so he’s worth keeping an eye on, while Maxime Esteve, a French centre back, is a Rolls-Royce of a defender at this level.

What were the main ins and outs during the summer?

Lucas Pires has started every game at left back since arriving from Brazilian side Santos, while Joe Worrall, Josh Laurent, Hannibal Mejbri, Jaidon Anthony, Jeremy Sarmiento and Zian Flemming are all solid signings for this level that should see Burnley in and around the promotion places.

Unfortunately there are far too many player exits to mention, but the headline departures were: Arijanet Muric, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Dara O’Shea, Charlie Taylor, Vitinho, Sander Berge, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Wilson Odobert, Anass Zaroury and Zeki Amdouni. When fit and available, all of these players were considered to be starters or in the frame to start.