At A Glance
Aston Villa go in search of back-to-back Premier League wins when Burnley visit Villa Park on Thursday night.
Fresh from a 1-0 victory against Wolves on Saturday, Dean Smith’s men will also be keen to rectify their home form after losing the last three matches in B6.
Villa have won just six of their 18 points at Villa Park as they occupy 11th place in the table heading into the game.
Opponents Burnley have been steadily improving over the last few weeks after a slow start to the campaign.
Sean Dyche’s team are unbeaten in four of their last five after failing to win any of their first seven league games.
A 1-1 draw with Everton last time out left the Clarets hovering above the relegation zone in 17th.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa are looking to win consecutive top-flight matches against Burnley for the first time since November 1964, following their 2-1 win at Turf Moor in January this year.
Burnley have won just one of their six Premier League meetings with Aston Villa (D3 L2), though that victory did come at Villa Park (1-0 in May 2015).
Burnley have won six Premier League away games in 2020 – they last won seven away top-flight games in a single calendar year in 1965 (8).
Burnley have lost eight of their last 12 away league matches on Thursdays (W1 D3), last winning an away league game on Thursday in April 1961 against Birmingham City.
Since the start of last season, Aston Villa have scored more winning goals in the 90th minute or later than any other Premier League side, with Anwar El Ghazi’s late winner against Wolves last time out giving them their fourth such victory.
Burnley striker Chris Wood has scored in all three of his league starts against Aston Villa, netting for Leeds in December 2016 and in both games for Burnley last season.
Jack Grealish has been directly involved in 40% of Aston Villa’s 148 Premier League shots so far this season (30 shots, 29 chances created), while he’s also won 29% of the Villans’ fouls in the competition this term (46/160).
The Last Meeting
Aston Villa kicked off 2020 with a bang at Turf Moor, producing a superb performance to win 2-1 on New Year’s Day.
Having already had a goal ruled out by VAR for the closest of offside decisions, Jack Grealish teed up Wesley for the opener before slamming home a second before the break.
Wesley and Tom Heaton suffered ACL injuries to take the shine off the win, which was secured with some excellent defensive work after Chris Wood scored with ten minutes left.
Team News
Kortney Hause, Tom Heaton and Fred Guilbert are all available for selection after coming through an U23 game unscathed.
The trio’s return is a timely one given that Douglas Luiz and Matty Cash will serve suspensions against the Clarets, while Trezeguet has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Ross Barkley will be assessed in the run-up to kick-off.
For Burnley, the trip to Villa Park likely comes too soon for Jack Cork and Johann Berg Gudmunsson, while Phil Bardsley and Dale Stephens may return to the squad.
The Boss
“They’ve obviously not had the start to the season that Sean (Dyche) would have wanted for them. But you just look at their last four of five performances, bar the Manchester City one, they’ve been performing well and very difficult to play against, very difficult to score against and got a deserved win in the end at Arsenal.”
Dean Smith
