Aston Villa look to reignite their Premier League title challenge against Burnley at Villa Park.
Victory would see Villa move up to second for at least 23 hours, whilst Burnley will stay second bottom with at least one point if Sheffield United win elsewhere.
Team News
Lucas Digne is ruled out for Villa after he suffered a hamstring injury during their Boxing Day loss at Manchester United.
Matty Cash (suspension) could return but Robin Olsen (knock), Youri Tielemans (calf), Tyrone Mings (knee), Bertrand Traore (muscle), Boubacar Kamara (suspension) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain ruled out.
Burnley have no fresh injury concerns to report although Jack Cork (calf) is nearing a return but won’t be risked unless match fit, whilst Luca Koleosho (knee) remains absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Aston Villa host Burnley at Villa Park in a 3pm GMT kick-off on Saturday 30 December, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Burnley (W2, D2, L1).
- Burnley have won one of their last five visits to Villa (W1, D3, L1).
- Villa have won two of their last three meetings against Burnley by 3-1 result.
- John McGinn has created more through balls in the Premier League than any other Villa player this season (10).
- Coming into this matchweek, no other goalkeeper has made more punches in the Premier League this season than Burnley’s James Trafford (12).
Prediction
After a disastrous second half performance at Man Utd where they defensively switched off at 2-0 up and were ruthlessly punished for sloppy marking, Villa certainly need to rebound here if they want to get their unlikely title bid back on track and deliver the same quality throughout.
Burnley meanwhile could of easily rolled over against a strong Liverpool attack but they actually were defensively organised and made a proper scrap, yet couldn’t take their chances which cost them twice in an otherwise solid display which they can build upon.
Unai Emery’s Villains though won’t make things easy given how difficult they have made Villa Park throughout 2023 for visitors, so Burnley are going to have to be clinical but I do feel like Villa will bounce back with a win which puts pressure back on Arsenal and Liverpool.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley
Result: Aston Villa 3-2 Burnley