Aston Villa will look to improve their home form as they host 17th place, Burnley, on Thursday night. Having picked up only 6 points from a possible 15 at home this season, Dean Smith will see the fixture as a perfect opportunity to improve his side's results at Villa Park.
Sean Dyche's team has only registered two wins this season - one of those being at The Emirates last weekend where they beat struggling Arsenal 0-1.
Team News
Villa will be without first-team regulars Matty Cash and Douglas Luiz after the pair picked up suspensions in the victory over Wolves, while Egyptian winger Trezeguet is out with a hamstring injury. Ross Barkley will be assessed on Wednesday after missing out on the weekend. Also, Kortney Hause, Frédéric Guilbert and former clarets keeper Tom Heaton are all fit and in contention.
As for Burnley: Phill Bardsley, Jack Cork, and Dale Stevens all featured for the under 23s on Monday and all came through fine. Thursday night is likely to come too soon for Cork and possibly, Johann Berg Guõmundsson.
Predicted lineups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Targett, Mings, Konsa, Elmohamady, Hourihane, McGinn, Barkley, Grealish, Watkins, El Ghazi.
Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Brady, Wood, Barnes.
Ones to watch
The ovbious for Villa would be skipper Jack Grealish, the 25-year-old has come on leaps and bounds since signing a brand new contract extension in the summer.
Prephaps a more out of the box selection would be England international, Tyrone Mings. The 27-year-old has had questions asked of him since his return from international break however, against Wolves on Saturday his leadership skills became a big talking point. Belting out orders such as " COME ON THEN, HERE WE GO, ALL TOGETHER NOW," helped his side to a smash and grab win at Molineux.
Burnley's one to watch is Chris Wood. The striker has only scored two goals this season but the 29-year-old has an impressive record against Villa. Wood has scored in all three of his league starts against Villa. One for Leeds in 2016 and in both games for Burnley last season.
A word from the manager's
Dean Smith spoke to VillaTV ahead of the game and knows what to expect from Dyche's Burnley: “They’ve not had the start that Sean would have wanted, but they’ve performed well over the last 4 or 5 games. They’re difficult to play against.”
Sean Dyche also commented on the quality his Burnley side will face when speaking in his pre-match press conference :"We know they've got great players and some good flare players, they have invested a large amount of money into the side, with a good manager and coaching staff, they're having a good season so far."
Where to watch
The game will broadcast live on Amazon Prime. (Ko:18:00)