Match Pack: Burnley

At A Glance

Aston Villa’s season enters the home stretch on Saturday when they begin their final five fixtures with a trip to Turf Moor to play Burnley.

After five games without a win, a 2-0 victory against Norwich City last time out provided a timely boost as Steven Gerrard’s side hunt down a top-10 finish.

Goals from strikers Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings did the damage, with the former now one away from hitting double figures for the sixth consecutive season.

Opponents Burnley are in a rich vein of form under the guidance of caretaker manager Mike Jackson.

The Clarets drew their first game after relieving Sean Dyche of his duties, winning the next three matches.

They’ve conceded just once during their winning run and have pulled themselves out of the relegation zone and up to 16^th.

Standout Stats

Burnley are looking to win consecutive league games against Aston Villa for the first time since January 1973, following their 3-2 win in this exact fixture last season.

Aston Villa have won just one of their last 26 away league games against Burnley (D6 L19), winning 2- 1 in January 2020.

The eight Premier League meetings between Burnley and Aston Villa have alternated between a draw (4) and a victory for either side (2 each), with Burnley winning the last match 3-2 in January 2021.

Burnley and Aston Villa will face each other for the first time in this Premier League campaign. This is the latest into a season two top-flight teams are meeting for their first league game since 1987-88, when Luton and Nottingham Forest met for the first time on 13th May.

Burnley are looking to secure four consecutive Premier League victories for the first time since April 2018 (a run of five), while they’ve won as many points in their four games under Michael Jackson as they had in their previous 10 under Sean Dyche (10).

Each of Aston Villa’s last six Premier League wins have seen them keep a clean sheet, with the Villans winless in 11 games when conceding at least once (D2 L9).

Burnley are unbeaten in their four Premier League matches under Michael Jackson so far; only three managers in the club’s history have remained unbeaten in their first five league games in charge – Frank Casper (1983), Jimmy Mullen (1991) and Owen Coyle (2007).

Ollie Watkins has nine Premier League goals this season. He could become the first Aston Villa player to score 10+ in consecutive top-flight campaigns since Christian Benteke (3 between 2012-13 and 2014-15), and the first Englishman to do so for the club since Gabriel Agbonlahor (3 between 2007-08 and 2009-10).

Former Burnley striker Danny Ings has scored in his last three Premier League appearances against the Clarets. The only player to score in four consecutive Premier League appearances against a team they’ve previously played for in the competition was Craig Bellamy vs Newcastle United (2007 – 2011).

The Last Meeting

The two teams have yet to play this season, meaning you have to go back to January 2021 and a clash at Turf Moor.

Villa led twice but ultimately found themselves on the losing side, with Ollie Watkins and Jack Grealish getting on the scoresheet.

Ben Mee, Dwight McNeil and Chris Wood scored for the hosts.

Team News

Leon Bailey and Kortney Hause are confirmed absentees for the trip north.

Jacob Ramsey is a big doubt for Villa, who will welcome back Morgan Sanson into the squad.

Burnley will be without former Villan Ashley Westwood, captain Ben Mee and Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

Attackers Jay Rodriguez and Maxwel Cornet will be assessed ahead of the game, while Erik Pieters may also return.

The Boss