Aston Villa vs. Burnley: Preview and betting tips

Aston Villa will welcome Burnley in the eighteenth round of the Premier League on Saturday. While the home side have been sailing up the table in recent weeks, the visitors are still languishing near the bottom of the competition. What to expect from the game?

Aston Villa have come into good form with the arrival of Steven Gerrard, winning four of their last six games and jumping up to tenth place. They are just three points behind seventh-placed Tottenham.

Burnley are far worse off. Like last year, it is fighting for bare survival, traditionally poor in performance, currently only eighteenth with eleven points. They are two points behind the relegation places.

Central midfielder John McGinn has been performing excellently in the home jersey, the Scottish international has scored three times so far, assisting two goals. A lot of up went under the new coach Ashley Young, the experienced all-rounder assisted twice in November.

The visitors are led by a summer signing from France. Left winger Maxwel Cornet has already netted five league goals. Otherwise, Burnley have traditionally relied on a solid defence, with goalkeeper Nick Pope and stopper Ben Mee being the mainstays.

If anything has changed with Gerrard’s arrival at Birmingham, it is definitely the behaviour of the defensive line. The Villans under the new coach are conceding an average of just 0.8 times per game

Moreover, Burnley’s attack is essentially harmless. Only Wolverhampton and Norwich have scored fewer goals than the Clarets (14), on the other hand Burnley have the second best defensive line of the second half of the table with 21 goals conceded.

Considering the form of the Villans under Gerrard and the Clarets shooting woes, I think Aston Villa will win.