BURNLEY boss Stan Ternent welcomes one of his former employers to Turf Moor tonight.

A dozen years ago Ternent was the assistant manager to Steve Coppell as the Eagles won promotion to the top flight.

Now he is hoping to inspire his Burnley players as they seek to halt Palace's latest promotion charge that has seen them record seven straight wins.

In the build-up to the game Ternent preferred to keep his talking for his players on the training ground but his assistant Sam Ellis acknowledged what an important game it is tonight.

"It was a huge disappointment to lose a two goal lead on Saturday," he admitted. "But those things happen and in the previous home game we came back from two down for a point.

"But no heads are dropping at this club and we are still quite pleased with the stuff that's going on. In fact for the first 44 minutes against Barnsley I thought we were excellent.

"Playing against the team that is top of the table will give our players a lift and it offers us a great chance to peg them back. They have got some very good players.

"But one thing that we know is that we have got players who will go out there and give everything they have got."

Tonight's match is followed by a trip to Wolves who were knocked off top spot by Palace at the weekend. It is clearly a big week for the Clarets but Ellis said: "It may be a cliche but we do only look at one game at a time."

Ternent was fuming about the manner of the three goals that Burnley conceded at the weekend, a needless penalty and two from set-pieces, and Ellis admitted: "They were out of the blue really. That has not been the norm for us this season before Saturday."

On the injury front, Ellis had some positive news for Clarets fans as he said: "There is only Alan Moore out of the first team squad who is not doing some sort of physical training at the moment."

But that does not mean winger Glen Little is likely to start against the club where he started his career. Ternent is concerned about him aggravating the hamstring injury he suffered at Norwich City last month.

Ellis said: "There are still another 32 games left after the match against palace and the manager wouldn't want to force Glen back too soon."

Graham Branch and Mitchell Thomas are also getting back their fitness but the match might have come too soon.

Two ex-Palace players who will expect to feature tonight are Ian Cox and Gareth Taylor who were with the London side at the same time as Little.

It has been the nature of the club that there has been a regular change in personnel almost every season so there will not be any big reunions. All that matters is that Burnley get back to winning ways and move within a point of their opponents.