Aston Villa and Burnley square off in the Premier League on Thursday evening having both recorded impressive victories at the weekend.
A day after Villa registered a dramatic 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley prevailed by the same scoreline against Arsenal.
Match preview
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After suffering four defeats in half a dozen matches, there will be many associated with Villa that feel that this group of players peaked when they started the campaign so impressively.
However, while the West Midlands outfit only sit in 10th position after their derby success at Molineux, winning their two games in hand would put them level with third-placed Leicester City.
The competitiveness of this season's Premier League is highlighted by such a scenario, and Dean Smith will feel that the club has a window of opportunity to get back in the mix.
Although Villa had to ride their luck to record their fourth away triumph in five attempts, keeping another clean sheet was arguably required to help them turn things around on more familiar territory.
Villa have lost their last three games at their home ground with nine goals being conceded against Leeds United, Southampton and Brighton & Hove Albion.
While Burnley still find themselves down in 17th spot, a return of eight points from five matches has lifted the mood at a club which had seemed to have outstayed their welcome in the top flight.
A lack of signings coincided with a number of poor performances on the pitch, but Sean Dyche has worked wonders to get the Clarets outside of the relegation zone.
The win at the Emirates Stadium naturally stands out, although the wheels were set in motion with a dogged display during a goalless draw at Brighton last month.
Strong defensive showings against Crystal Palace and Everton soon followed, and their clean sheet in North London was their third in five games.
Despite improvements being required at the other end of the pitch, Dyche will be confident that his team can create enough opportunities to match their hosts on Thursday.
Aston Villa Premier League form: LLWLLW
Burnley Premier League form: LDWLDW
Team News
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Villa will be without Douglas Luiz after the Brazilian midfielder was dismissed during the latter stages against Wolves.
With Matty Cash also serving a one-match suspension, Ahmed Elmohamady and Conor Hourihane are expected to come into the starting lineup.
Anwar El Ghazi may get the nod over Bertrand Traore, but Marvelous Nakamba could remain among the replacements after Jacob Ramsey impressed on his first league start.
Dyche is not expected to make any alterations to his Burnley side after their victory over Arsenal.
If a change is made to a winning team, it will likely involve Ashley Barnes getting the nod over Jay Rodriguez.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Hourihane, Ramsey; El Ghazi, Watkins, Grealish
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Brady, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil; Rodriguez, Wood
We say: Aston Villa 3-1 Burnley
After their respective performances at the weekend, both sides will be confident of recording back-to-back wins. However, Villa will be expecting a defensive-minded performance from the visitors, and Smith's outfit could capitalise if they are able to seize the initiative during the opening stages.
Top betting tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Aston Villa win with a probability of 49.52%. A draw had a probability of 25.6% and a win for Burnley had a probability of 24.84%.
The most likely scoreline for an Aston Villa win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.34%) and 2-0 (9.27%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.16%), while for a Burnley win it was 0-1 (7.93%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.9% likelihood.
