Top ten hopefuls Burnley face struggling Aston Villa

Aston Villa host Burnley with a game that the Villans need to win in order to lift themselves away from the relegation zone.

Currently sat in the relegation zone, Aston Villa face Burnley in a game that the Villans desperately need to win to lift themselves away from the relegation zone. Last time out for both teams, Villa narrowly lost to Arsenal with the Gunners pulling off a great comeback to win 3-2. Burnley on the other hand, comfortably beat Premier League newbies Norwich 2-0 at Turf Moor.

Team news

Aston Villa will still be without Jonathan Kodija whose sidelined with a broken cheekbone.

Burnley may play Johann Berg Gudmundsson who is returning after a calf injury, but Danny Drinkwater will not play due to an ankle injury.

Dean Smith summarises Wednesday night’s 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

“All in all, it was very good.

“We saw when their teamsheet came through that it was a very youthful side.

“We made nine changes from Sunday and had a plan for John McGinn and Jack Grealish to get minutes.

“We had to ensure we got the time in for them due to our strange training schedule after playing Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday.”

Burnley boss Sean Dyche admits he’s had a watchful eye over Aston Villa this season and about their current plan.

“Villa have a different model, over £100m spent in one summer, and I’m interested to see how they go.

“Over the last few years, the model of football demands success. It’s not about the financial structure of clubs, although we’re different.

“I’m nearly seven years in, £500m turnover or so, net spend of about £75m, not including the assets on the pitch. Villa have a different model, over £100m spent in one summer, and I’m interested to see how they go.

“It’s still early season, they’re getting used to the demands of the Premier League, trying to piece it together, and I’m always quite intrigued looking at how these models work.”

Head-to-head

In the last five outings between the two clubs, Villa have been victorious twice, Burnley have won the game once with the other two games ending in draws.