PREVIEW: ASTON VILLA V BURNLEY

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Clarets head to Villa Park for Thursday night clash

2022-05-19T11:52:34.812Z

PREVIEW: ASTON VILLA V BURNLEY

Clarets head to Villa Park for Thursday night clash

2022-05-19T11:52:34.812Z

Clarets head to Villa Park for Thursday night clash

Burnley face Aston Villa at Villa Park tonight in the last away fixture of the season.

The two teams met 12 days ago at Turf Moor with Villa winning 3-1, Maxwel Cornet got a late consolation goal for the Clarets.

The Clarets were beaten by a controversial Harry Kane penalty on Sunday. Interim manager Mike Jackson reflected on that narrow defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

“It’s done now. I’ve said what I needed to say on it after the game. I was annoyed with it, as you can imagine from my personal point of view. But I didn’t want to take anything away from what I thought was a really strong performance on the day from the group.”

It’s unusual to play a side twice in such a short period of time. Jackson believes he has learnt from that Turf Moor defeat.

“Obviously I can’t say too much about it but we learnt a lot as a group and I learnt a lot as well about myself as well. In regarding what the game was and what the game was asking. We know that now, we knew that on the day but you learn these little things afterwards sometimes.

Jackson looks ahead to final game of the season

“You pick the bones out of it, as always, but there are things we know we could have done better on the day. But we still created chances on the day. We take the good out of what we did on the day but be a bit more wary in what we are doing as well.”

Everton host Crystal Palace on Thursday. With games playing simultaneously will Jackson be made aware of what’s going on at other games?

“That will be more on the Sunday, I would have thought. We will keep an eye on stuff on Thursday. But at this moment in time the full focus will be on the performance on Thursday. “

Form

Burnley have won away at Brighton and Watford this season. They lost 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday with Harry Kane’s controversial spot kick separating the two sides.

The Clarets have taken ten points from Jackson’s six games in charge.

Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 home draw by Crystal Palace on Sunday. Ollie Watkins scored for Villa with Jeffrey Schlupp equalising for Patrick Vieira’s side. It was only Villa’s fifth draw of the campaign, only Arsenal (three) have drawn fewer games.

PREVIEW: ASTON VILLA V BURNLEY - Image 2

Opposition guide

Villa have lost eight and drawn four of their home games in the Premier League this season.

Steven Gerrard joined Villa as manager in November 2021 replacing Dean Smith. He is determined to finish the season well.

“The important thing is that we focus on what we need to do, we want two positive results, we want to finish as strong as we can and improve our league position.”

Gerrard masterminded a recent 3-1 win at Turf Moor and is ready for the return fixture.

“We will be aggressive, we played them recently and played extremely well. It will be a challenge, we know their strengths and they have given themselves a decent chance of survival.

Villa recently announced the permanent signing of the former Liverpool forward Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona. Gerrard played with him at Liverpool.

"I think he is a player that needs to feel wanted, he needs to feel support. Everyone at Villa is playing their part… the owners especially have made him feel really special. He feels really happy here and it's fantastic that he wants to be part of this journey.”

Forward makes Hammers switch

Match stats

It’s only the second time in the Premier League era that two sides have met twice in the month of May. Villa also played Everton home and away in this month last season.

Burnley are unbeaten in their last three trips to Villa Park (1-2-0).

Danny Ings got Burnley’s goal when they last won at Villa Park (May 2015). He is now in the opposing ranks.

Matt Lowton returns to Villa Park on Thursday. He played 72 times for Villa in the Premier League scoring two goals.

Ashley Barnes is set to feature in his 199th Premier League game for Burnley. Only captain Ben Mee has previously reached 200.

Burnley celebrated their 140th anniversary on Wednesday the 18th of May.

Later this month, Villa will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their European Cup win over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam.

Referee

Paul Tierney

VAR

John Brooks

Kick Off

19th May 2022, 8pm