Villa to edge the battle of the clarets
Aston Villa head into the Premier League match against Burnley on Thursday evening with the peculiar record of having had a decisive outcome in all of their 10 games to date (six wins and four losses). The West Midlands derby with Wolverhampton Wanderers was hard-fought and won at the last gasp, but not without some cost to their ranks. They'll welcome their fellow claret and blues to Birmingham with the visitors in the ascendancy after a decidedly poor start to the campaign, but now buoyed by their first triumph over Arsenal in recent memory. Another low-scoring affair is probably on the horizon, and is also one the hosts should edge. Read our preview here:
Not now, Douglas!
Villains manager Dean Smith has had the luxury and faith of sticking to pretty much the same starting lineup in the league to this juncture, but will now be forced to ring the changes on Thursday. Douglas Luiz's idiotic red card, coupled with Matty Cash accruing five yellows in double-quick time, should mean that young midfielder Jacob Ramsey is handed his second start in succession. The 19 year-old prospect has an eye for goal and energy to burn, and will doubtlessly look to dovetail with Jack Grealish in the left half-space to provide support to the rest of a fluid front three. Elsewhere, expect the experienced Ahmed El-Mohamady to come in on the right of defence in place of Cash. The Egyptian is renowned for getting high up the pitch and laying on crosses, but less so his ability to win the ball back off a tricky forward. That could be an area Burnley look to exploit with the bright vision and wingplay of Dwight McNeil.
Whose Wood is this?
The XI for the east Lancashire outfit picks itself at the time of writing, and the aforementioned McNeil will of course be looking for the aerial prowess and knowhow of Kiwi striker Chris Wood to either glance in a near-post header or to knock it down for the likes of Jay Rodriguez to latch onto. Sean Dyche's men proved last weekend that they're starting to become hard to break down and beat once more, and England goalkeeper Nick Pope seems to have cut out some of the uncharacteristic individual errors that previously plagued his season to date. The midfield bank of four will need to be a little less rigid in order to halt Villa's progress playing in between their lines, which will probably entail a low block from the outset.
Climbing higher
Burnley are not in the game of committing men needlessly forward. The task will fall on the home side to penetrate a quietly impressive centre-back partnership of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, whilst the visitors will look to nick dead balls in the final third. There is no great mismatch in quality, especially where it counts the most in midfield, but Dyche has a well-versed strategy that he rarely deviates from. He might find however that his side are at a rare disadvantage aerially, so a bit more cuteness will need to be employed to glean a result. For certain, Villa have more firepower, but that will be put to the test here. betway are offering odds of 7.00 for a simple 1-0 home victory.
