Burnley turn their attention to Ajax friendly

Two weeks out from the big kick off, Burnley continue their pre-season preparations with an enticing friendly against Ajax.

Nicky Hayen’s side make the trip to Amsterdam to face the Dutch giants at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Sunday, with the game kicking off at 1pm (UK time).

The new boss will be looking for some big improvements from his side, having fallen to a 4-1 defeat to Real Salt Lake during the third and final friendly of their US tour.

That disappointing result followed a 3-1 defeat to FC Cincinnati and a 1-1 draw against Columbus Crew.

It all forms part of the Clarets’ preparation for the new campaign, which kicks off with a Carabao Cup first round tie against Notts County on Saturday, August 8 before the visit of Championship title favourites West Ham the following week.

Coming off the back of this weekend’s Ajax game, Hayen’s side face back-to-back home friendlies in the space of four days against ‘sister’ club Espanyol and Italian side Torino respectively.

As for Ajax, they suffered a disappointing campaign last time out, finishing fifth in the Eredivisie.

Their friendly against Burnley comes sandwiched in between a two-legged UEFA Conference League qualifier against Serbian side FK Vojvodina.

Michel’s side have already played Panathinaikos (lost 3-1), AEK Larnaca (won 1-0), Bochum (drew 1-1) and Olympiacos (won 1-0).

Their league campaign gets underway on Sunday, August 9 with an away game against PEC Zwolle.

As for the Clarets, Shurandy Sambo and Hannibal could feature for the first time in pre-season having been given time off after featuring at the World Cup.

They’ve since returned to training this past week, alongside Zian Flemming, who took no part in the club’s US tour after recently becoming a father.

Jordan Beyer and skipper Josh Cullen remain injured.