Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our commentary of Aston Villa's visit of relegated Burnley on the LAST day of the Premier League season. Get your Kleenex out because English football abandons us again for another three months; forcing us to use stuff like tennis and cricket to fill the football-shaped hole in our hearts. Anywho, I'm Shane and I'll be bringing you all of the action from Villa Park on a day where both sets of fans will potentially be crying for different reasons.

For Burnley supporters, this one represents their last Premier League game for at least 15 months. Yep, the Clarets, under Sean Dyche, have been relegated back to the Championship after winning promotion from the Championship last season. Given their miniscule budget, it is actually quite an achievement to have lasted until the final two weeks.

Dyche's side had their demotion confirmed two weeks ago, despite beating Hull City 1-0, but results elsewhere on the day consigned them to life in the second tier again next term. They're also losing Danny Ings this summer; the man who played such a big role in helping them reach the top flight for the first time since 2009.

And why will Villa fans be crying, I hear you ask? Apart from the fact they support Aston Villa, they may be reduced to tears by the prospect of facing Arsenal in the FA Cup final next Saturday - two weeks after losing 6-1 at Southampton!!! Extra exclamation marks for emphasis on the shoddy performance.

Tim Sherwood's men conceded five times in the opening 40 minutes at St Mary's last week, with Sadio Mane scoring the quickest hat-trick in Premier League history in a stunning time of two minutes and 56 seconds! There's a lot of things I can do in under three minutes - and I know what joke you're thinking about so leave it - but scoring a top-flight treble ain't one of them. Well done him.

It is a good thing that Roy Keane isn't at Villa any longer because somebody literally might have been murdered at half time. It was arguably the most inept defensive performance by any Premier League side this season, with Alan Hutton and Ron Vlaar particularly dreadful.

Especailly Vlaar, their best defender. You expect the big Dutchman to use his experience to steady the ship rather than contribute to the rocking and that is precisely what happened. He was directly responsible for the second goal and from there nobody took responsibility and settled things down.

It was more perplexing than wondering how Australia qualified for the Eurovision - and then finished higher than the United Kingdom. You're playing Arsenal in a cup final next week lads so, you know, a bit of defensive organisation wouldn't go amiss! They'll hope for an improved performance today.

Anywho, let's get into a bit of team news, shall we? Why not, but first watch the lads at Sports Mole HQ dissect this one with their preview and I'll see you in a few minutes:

ASTON VILLA XI: Steer, Baker, Vlaar, Bacuna, Cleverley, Agbonlahor, Westwood, Delph, Benteke, N'Zogbia, Grealish

BURNLEY XI: Heaton; Trippier, Shackell (c), Keane, Mee; Arfield, Jones, Ulvestad, Boyd; Barnes; Ings

ASTON VILLA SUBS: Guzan, Sinclair, Weimann, Hutton, Sanchez, Robinson, Green

BURNLEY SUBS: Gilks, Duff, Kightly, Taylor, Jutkiewicz, Vokes, Reid

Right, let's be polite and start with the visitors and Burnley make two changes from their drab 0-0 draw with Stoke City last time out. Dyche brings Michael Keane into the fold for Michael Duff at centre-back beside captain Jason Shackell, while Matt Taylor drops out for Fredrik Ulvestad, who makes his full debut. Striker Danny Ings leads the line on his Clarets swansong, while Steven Reid makes the bench for his last game before retiring.

On to Villa now and Mr Sherwood makes three changes from his side's 6-1 mauling by the Saints last time around. 22-year-old goalkeeper Jed Steer replaces Shay Given, who drops out of the squad. In defence, Nathan Baker returns from injury to displace Jores Okore, while Gabriel Agonlahor comes in for Alan Hutton, who made Gael Clichy look like Paulo Maldini last weekend.

Right, who can Villa look to for a little goalscoring inspiration this afternoon. It's Benteke, isn't it? What a resurgence the big Belgian has enjoyed in recent months since Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert back in February. Benteke has netted 12 in his last 11 games under Sherwood, having only scored three under Lambert all season, and the 24-year-old will look to continue his fine form here today.

Incidentally, it was Benteke who put the 'one' in 6-1 last week after a fine header toward the end of the first half, to make it 5-1. As an Arsenal fan, I'm not saying I want him injured today to reduce his chances of playing next week, because that would be distasteful, but I'd settle for a "knock". Knocks are okay, right? I'm going to hell.

On a lighter note, Ings is the man charged with the task of ensuring Burnley finish on a high...kinda. Victory would see them avoid the wooden spoon anyway, and Ings, who is set to leave for free this summer, will want to end his four-year Clarets spell with a goal or two.

He has netted 10 times in 34 Premier League games this season, so it's hardly his fault that Burnley are heading back down to the Championship, and he'll want to remind the visiting fans of his goalscoring prowess this afternoon - and increase the chances of getting a move to a big club. Liverpool, Manchester United and, eh, Real Sociedad are said to be keen.

DID YOU KNOW? Anywho, we're edging a little closer to kickoff so let's look at a few pre-match stats, shall we? And did you know that it's been 48 years since Burnley last won a league game at Villa Park? Yep, we're talking about a 1-0 win here back in 1967. Michael Duff was playing that day. *may not be true*.

Villa have only won two of the eight meetings since then, with draws being the result of choice in this fixture it seems. It was 1-1 when the sides met at Turf Moor in November, with Ings cancelling out Joe Cole's first-half opener with a 87th-minute penalty. Has Cole been seen or heard from since that day?

PREDICTION: Right, how long until kickoff? 12 minutes? Great. Let's try to tease out a correct prediction, shall we? Okay, and I'm going for 3-1 Villa. I think Burnley want to get out of this hell-hole (the Premier League, not Birmingham) as soon as possible and the hosts will want to respond after that 6-1 last week. Benteke to score twice, before going off with a "knock", and Delph to score the other. Ulvestad will score for Burnley on his full debut.

None of that will happen, but hey, it's the last day of the season; a day of magic, where the blind will see, the crippled will walk, the Balotellis will score, and I will get a prediction right. Maybe.

Good luck to 34-year-old Reid today, who brings the curtain down on a 17-year playing career.

PHOTO: @stevenreid12 takes in his surroundings before his final game as a professional. #ClaretsLIVE pic.twitter.com/egJwF0W8Zw — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 24, 2015

Right, both sets of players are entering the field now and we're minutes away from kickoff! Three months without proper football after today. Hold me.

There's a banner up at Villa Park reading: "I bleed Claret & Blue". Might want to get that checked out or?

There's very little to play for in most games today apart from Hull's visit of Man United and West Ham's trip to Newcastle. If Hull win, then Newcastle also have to win in order to avoid relegation. We'll keep you updated with the permutations throughout the 90 minutes here.

KICKOFF: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at Villa Park. Burnley, already relegated of course, get us underway. Let's go my friends.

Dodgy start to proceedings by young goalkeeper Jed Steer, who slices Nathan Baker's back pass out for a Burnley throw-in. He must be very, very nervous today. If he does a Lineker I'll let you know.

It's a little scrappy so far by all accounts. Plenty of fouls, most of which have been committed by Burnley and we don't have much of a tempo as of yet. Both sets of fans in good voice thus far.

What an excellent start for Burnley, and it's Ings. It comes after a brief game of head tennis, and Ashley Barnes climbs above N'Zogbia to head the ball into the area as Ings nods beyond Steer to give his side a perfect start.

Villa haven't done much to respond from that setback and Burnley, it has to be said, looking the better side at the moment. What a rotten start by Villa, who will have been conscious about what happened last week coming into this one.

"Shall we sing a song for you" echoes around Villa Park, sung by the Burnley fans I think. Mind you, it took the Villa fans 45 minutes to find a song at Southampton last week, singing "we're going to win 6-5" after Benteke made it 5-1 to Southampton.

Nervy moment by Burnley there as Michael Keane's back pass to Tom Heaton looks a little short, allowing Agbonlahor to raise pulses with his pace, but the newly-called-up England goalkeper clear just in time. Other than that, Villa haven't worried Burnley at all.

CHANCE! Should be 1-1. Simple as. Ron Vlaar thumps a half-volley narrowly over the bar from just outside the box. It was close, but he still should've scored.

Ominously for Villa, Arsenal are warming up for next week's FA Cup final with THREE goals inside 17 minutes against West Brom. *collar tug*

All of Burnley's traffic is coming down Villa's right-hand side, and it's looking fruitful thus far as they've had a few dangerous crosses fizzed in there but they've come to nothing.

Villa fans, with little to sing about as far as today's performance goes, turn their attentions to the FA Cup and warm up their vocal chords with a "we're going to Wembley" chant. On the field, they've been quite poor.

CHANCE! It could, and probably should, be 2-0 folks. It's a loose pass from Bacuna, and the ball finds its way to Boyd, who turns Vlaar inside out before clipping a ball over to Ings, who fires over the bar with just Steer to beat.

Delph perhaps lucky to have avoid a yellow card here after cynically fouling Barnes, who is still on the ground as a result.

SUB: Doesn't look like Barnes is going to last the 90. He's trodding off the field and he'll be replaced by Sam Vokes.

SHOT! Dodgy defending here from Kieran Trippier, who isn't tight enough to Benteke and the big Belgian volleys Bacuna's floated cross narrowly wide. It took a deflection but the resulting corner came to nothing.

CHANCE! It's Benteke getting the better of Trippier again as he climbs above him to plant his head at goal, but Tom Heaton beats it away.

We're five minutes from the break and it seems like Burnley are relatively comfortable. One or two brief moments of danger by Benteke a few minutes ago but overall they're good value for their 1-0 lead. Arsenal now 4-0 ahead. It doesn't bode well ahead of the FA Cup final, does it?

SHOT! Villa finishing the half on top and Ashley Westwood fires a fine shot but it's narrowly over the bar. Promising, though.

SAVE! That's why he's in the England squad, as Tom Heaton tips over Ashley Westwood's fierce volley from close range. What a save that is.

That's all she wrote in this half. Burnley lead through Danny Ings's opener but the whistle came too early for Villa, who did finish the half very well.

RESTART: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back underway at Villa Park. Sherwood will have been furious after that dismal half but let's see if they can get back on track and ride the crest of a wave into Wembley.

Fortunately for Villa, they've retained the momentum that saw them dominate in the final stages of the first half and they've started the second period really well here.

CHANCE! Decent chance for Benteke here, as he volleys Delph's floated cross well over the bar from a good position. It's all Villa, their fans will be happy to know.

BOOKING: Ron Vlaar goes into the book for a foul on Danny Ings, who held the ball up well before being taken out of it. As an Arsenal fan, I wouldn't mind seeing Vlaar pick up another yellow. Is that bad?

Bacuna isn't doing his hopes of starting at Wembley any good after his cross, with a host of Villa players in the box, curled straight out for a goal kick. He's also been dodgy in defence so, you know, Alan Hutton might be on standby for next week.

It's all gone a bit quiet, until just now, when boos ring around Villa Park after Villa keeper Jed Steer has the ball seconds after Jack Grealish had it on the edge of Burnley's box. That should paint a decent picture of how frustrating Burnley are for Villa today.

Right there's about half-an-hour left folks and, as it stands, Villa are going into Wembley on the back of a defeat.

CHANCE! It should be 1-1 as Agbonlahor, with just Heaton to beat, fires straight at the goalkeeper's feet. Best chance of the day for Villa.

CHANCE! Bizarrely, it could be 2-0 as Ings plays in George Boyd who, in a one-on-one with Steer, looks to chip over the Villa keeper but he makes a decent save. It's opening up a little more.

SUB: This happened a few minutes ago but I forgot to mention with all the chances, but Matt Taylor has replaced Ulvestad on his full debut. He didn't do badly at all the young midfielder.

Burnley are definitely going to miss Danny Ings next season. He's got bags of goals and energy, a relatively rare combination.

SUB: Scott Sinclair replaces Tom Cleverley, who gets a standing ovation. Will Villa fans see him again in that shirt, in this stadium? Time will tell.

SAVE! Another fine save from Tom Heaton to deny N'Zogbia, whose fierce drive is pushed out for a corner, which comes to nothing.

Around 15 minutes to play here, my friends. Will Villa score? Probably not, but who knows. Burnley look comfortable.

SHOT! Delph isn't having the best of games, and he's just curled over the bar from well outside the box here. Could've done better.

Okay so we're 10 minutes away from full time now and it seems like Burnley are going to hang on. There's nothing at stake for either side of course, but victory would be a nice way to end a trying season for the Clarets.

Villa look spent, I'm afraid. They look short on ideas, and have done for ages, which is unsurprising given how well Tom Heaton has played. He's been brilliant today.

SUB: Steven Reid comes on for his last performance in professional football, replacing Ings, who is received well by the Burnley fans in what is his last game too.

Sorry but Burnley's defence deserve medals of honour, or valor, today. They've been so good and it looks like they're going to hang on.

CLOSE! This isn't far away at all, as Delph drives narrowly wide past an unsighted Tom Heaton. That would've been harsh on Heaton, who's been exceptional.

Well, that's all she wrote here, my friends. Danny Ings's goal after seven minutes is enough to give Burnley a winning feeling on their return to the Championship, while Villa go into the FA Cup final on the back of two defeats. Ominous, isn't it?

Anywho, that's all we've got time for today. Thanks for joining us this afternoon, and all season, and we'll be back in August for the 2015-16 campaign. Write me.