Our prediction for this Premier League match:
Buoyed by a 2-1 win over Watford, Burnley will look to move away from the danger zone when they take on Aston Villa in the Premier League round 36. The Clarets are eyeing their fourth consecutive league win, and they are surely capable of matching the Villans on home soil. All Westwood, Gudmundsson, and Mee remain on the sidelines with injuries, while Pieters faces race against clock to be fit for the match. Ivory Coast international Cornet has overcome his injury.
Aston Villa, on the other hand, recorded a very important 2-0 win over Norwich City to move on the cusp of securing the Premier League survival. Anyhow, relegation-threatened hosts want this win more than the visitors, and we predict that Steven Gerrard’s troops are going to return home empty-handed. As for the away side, Leon Bailey has joined Morgan Sanson and Kortney House in the recovery room.
Highlighted Player (Jay Rodríguez):
Having progressed through the youth ranks of his hometown club Burnley, Jay Rodriguez was rewarded with a professional debut against Bristol City in December 2007 as an 18-year-old boy. It wasn’t until the 2008/09 season when he began to show glimpses of proper promise for the Clarets, however.
With 15 goals and six assists in 37 Championship outings in 2011/12 campaign, Jay Rodriguez caught the eye of several Premier League clubs and it was Southampton who pounced for his signature in a £7 million deal. Six goals and eight assist in his debut Premier League season were followed by a breakthrough record of 15 goals and three assists in 33 matches of the 2013/14 campaign.
An unfortunate cruciate ligament injury sustained in April 2014 halted his progress as he sat through the entire 2014/15 season. It did not prevent West Bromwich Albion from making a move for Rodriguez in 2017, making him the first signing of the summer transfer window, worth a reported £12 million. The WBA forward features only once for England U21 in 2011 and made a single senior appearance – in a 2-0 defeat to Chile in November 2013.
Highlighted Team (Aston Villa):
Aston Villa is one of the three clubs that dropped to the Championship at the end of the 2015/2016 Premier League campaign. The Villans host their rivals at Villa Park, the stadium that was opened in 1897 and its’ capacity is 42,682. However, it has to be noted that the highest attendance recorded at the stadium was 76,588 when Aston Villa faced Derby County in the FA Cup back in 1946.
Aston Villa’s fiercest rivals are Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion. Nonetheless, the rivalry between Aston Villa and Wolves and Coventry City is big as well. Aston Villa have won seven First Division (Premier League) trophies, with the team clinching seven FA Cup trophies as well.
The team’s biggest success, though, came in 1982 when they won the European Cup. The Villans defeated Bayern Munich (1-0) in the title game and Peter Withe was named the man of the match.