Aston Villa vs Burnley

Villa Park is the venue as bottom-half Aston Villa take on relegation-threatened Burnley in an exciting Premier League fixture.

After letting a home lead slip through their fingers twice in a row (D1, L1), Aston Villa’s hopes of landing a first top-half Premier League finish since 2010/11 look rather improbable. With two games left, including this one, they trail 10th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion by four points and head into proceedings winless in four of their last five Premier League home matches (D1, L3). Steven Gerrard’s men have had a rough time playing over midweek, as they have won none of their seven previous midweek top-flight fixtures (D3, L4). Moreover, since earning Premier League promotion in 2019, the ‘Lions’ have drawn both home league meetings with Burnley, with their last home league triumph over this opposition now dating back to 2010.

On the other hand, Burnley face the prospect of welcoming the ultimate round of fixtures in the drop zone if they suffer another defeat in Birmingham, following back-to-back league reverses to Tottenham Hotspur and Villa of all teams. The ‘Clarets’ go into this encounter sitting one point adrift of 17th-placed Everton, on whom they have a game in hand. Caretaker manager Mike Jackson had won three consecutive Premier League matches to launch his interim tenure on a high, but the abovementioned defeats threaten to render those successes meaningless. Yet, the visitors can draw confidence from their eye-catching recent record at Villa Park, as they’ve gone unbeaten in six of their seven previous league visits to this venue (W3, D3).