Scott Parker on Burnley's Stoke City test, home form, gruelling schedule and injury latest

The Clarets faced back-to-back away games against promotion rivals Sheffield United and Middlesbrough after Christmas, picking up an impressive four-point haul.

Now back on home turf against Stoke City, Scott Parker will be desperate to extend the unbeaten run to 12 games with another victory to keep up the pressure on the Championship’s top two.

“We’re back at home now in front of our own fans so we will get back in, we will recover and we will see where the players are over the next couple of days,” he said after Sunday’s goalless draw against Boro.

“It’s another big game for us which we’re looking forward to. But the main idea now is to see how much recovery we can get into these players as we can.

“We probably don’t have much time to prep for this game, it’s all about recovery, so hopefully we can get to a good place.”

After the draw against Boro, Parker was keen to stress the challenges of Burnley facing consecutive away games over the Christmas period – especially coming off the back of a recent trip to Norwich.

“I can’t remember ever having two games away from home over Christmas. I might be totally wrong, but I can’t remember having it before,” he said.

“That’s the way it fell this year and we’ve had two tough games. These two fixtures back-to-back are very tough. Middlesbrough are a good side and Michael [Carrick] has done a good job with this team.

“It’s another clean sheet for us, which was massive against a team that has created a lot of chances and scored a lot of goals.

“It’s tough, but this is the Championship. It’s a relentless league and you have to be relentless in your pursuit of what you want to be.”

While Burnley remain unbeaten at home this season, they have drawn five of their 11 games – often struggling against the division’s so-called lesser sides who sit back and try to frustrate them.

“It will be massively important for us,” Parker said on making the most of their home comforts. “We’ve done very well there in front of our home fans, but if you want to operate in and around where we want to operate this season then you need to be watertight home and away.

“So far we’re edging that way.”

The Clarets face a managerless Stoke side that opted to axe Narcis Pelach last week after just three months in the job.

Interim boss Ryan Shawcross took the game against Sunderland at the weekend and oversaw an impressive 1-0 win.

Given the recent change in the dugout, that makes the Potters an unpredictable side to work out.

Parker added: “Whenever you face a team that has changed managers you’re never 100 per cent sure what you will face.

“We will do our work now over the next few days to see if there is anything we need to look into, which I’m sure there will be and we will prep as best as we can.”

The Clarets still have some injured players to welcome back, with Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey, Manuel Benson, Nathan Redmond and Mike Tresor still sidelined.

But with a quick turnaround from their last outing, Parker expects to have the same pool of players to choose from as he did at the Riverside.

When asked if he’s likely to have any players back, the Clarets boss said: “I don’t think so, it will be what we saw against Middlesbrough. I don’t see anyone else coming back into it.”