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The last league meeting was in February 1976 and since then the North East Lancashire version of claret and blue has been at least one league below Villa, until this season that is.
During those 33 years we were in separate divisions Villa have spent all but one of them in the top flight, dropping down a division in 1987 after finishing bottom but coming straight back up.
Since then the only meetings have been in the League Cup. We beat them 3-1 at home in the 2004/05 season but a Kevin Phillips goal gave them revenge a year later with them winning 1-0 in the same competition.
Burnley v Aston Villa is one of the fixtures I've really been looking forward to, one of the games that leaves you in no doubt that we are back in the big league of English football.
For much of last season Villa looked to be in with a very good chance of making the top four and with it a place in the Champions League. It didn't happen in the end. They finished sixth and were no less than ten points behind Arsenal who took the last of those four top European places.
After winning 2-0 at Ewood Park against Blackburn at the beginning of February they were third and eight points ahead of the Gunners, but they won just twice in their remaining thirteen league and cup games, both 1-0 wins at home against fast dropping Hull and then on the last day of the season against Newcastle.
They seemed to just run out of steam in the final part of the season and over the summer Martin O'Neill set about strengthening his squad although he did lose Gareth Barry to Manchester City who paid £12 million for the midfielder. The only other notable departure was Zat Knight who signed for Bolton.
O'Neill spent the Barry money to secure the signature of Stewart Downing the Middlesbrough and England winger but an ongoing injury problem means his season is still to get underway. Other signings ahead of the season included Fabian Delph from Leeds and Newcastle's Habib Beye.
Just four days before the transfer window closed he captured Stephen Warnock from Blackburn and on deadline day itself spent £10 million on two new central defenders James Collins from West Ham and Manchester City's Richard Dunne.
It's no surprise to see them doing well again and they are in fifth place in the table just a point behind Spurs. Their home record is excellent with four wins and a draw from five games whilst their away record shows two wins, two draws and two defeats with the two wins coming at Liverpool and Birmingham.
They are also still in the Carling Cup, having beaten Sunderland in the last round on penalties, but they made a shock early exit from the Europa League, losing to Rapid Vienna on the away goals rule.
For manager Martin O'Neill it is a first ever visit to Turf Moor as a manager.
Villa's main problems seem to centre on the two central defenders Richard Dunne and James Collins with Dunne returning from international duty with the Republic of Ireland and Collins hoping to come back from injury after missing the 5-1 win over Bolton.
Dunne was a member of the team that had a World Cup place snatched from them by the Hand of
He's not trained with Villa ahead of the game and O'Neill said the backroom staff have been talking with Dunne and they will have to make a decision.
Regards Collins, it all looked good as he returned to training this week but had some concern towards the end of training today. O'Neill said: "I am not so sure James is absolutely right. In the scheme of things it would have been great to have another week, which of course is not possible. We will have a look and we will see. He doesn't want to miss the games. He has made a great, great start to his Villa career."
Emile Heskey also missed the Bolton game but he's expected to be available.
The Villa team for the last game was: Brad Friedel, Luke Young, Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock, James Milner, Steve Sidwell, Nigel Reo-Coker, Ashley Young, John Carew, Gabriel Agbonlahor. Subs: Brad Guzan, Marc Albrighton, Nicky Shorey, Claran Clark, Fabian Delph, Craig Gardner, Nathan Delfouneso.
Owen Coyle has no new injuries with all of the internationals returning and ready to play. Only long term injury victims Chris McCann, Martin Paterson and Jay Rodriguez remain unavailable.
It would be a surprise if there were any changes from the squad that gained a first away point in the Premier League at Manchester City two weeks ago.
Expected team: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Andre Bikey, Chris Eagles, Wade Elliott, Robbie Blake, Steven Fletcher. Subs: Diego Penny, Michael Duff, Joey Gudjonsson, Kevin McDonald, Fernando Guerrero, David Nugent, Steven Thompson.
That last Villa visit to Turf Moor in 2004 saw Burnley go through to the fourth round of the League Cup before going out to Spurs.
It was a fantastic night with Graham Branch giving us an early lead with what proved to be the only goal of the first half. Ten minutes after the break Robbie Blake had a penalty saved but ten minutes after that Mo Camara doubled the lead.
We'd outplayed Villa but nine minutes from time they got back into the game with a goal from Juan Pablo Angel but it was Burnley who finished it in style with a third from Jean-Louis Valois.
The teams were;
Burnley: Danny Coyne, Lee Roche, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Richard Duffy, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Jean-Louis Valois, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Amadou Sanokho, Matt O'Neill, Joel Pilkington, Paul Scott.
Aston Villa: Thomas Sorensen, Mark Delaney, Olof Mellberg, Liam Ridgewell, Jlloyd Samuel (Thomas HItzlsperger 61), Lee Hendrie, Gavin McCann, Norberto Solano (Luke Moore 72), Pete Whittingham, Juan Pablo Angel, Carlton Cole. Subs not used: Stefan Postma, Ulises de la Cruz, Steve Davis.
The last league game was the one played in 1976 with Burnley fighting for points and hoping to build on a win against Sheffield United four days earlier. It didn't look as though there was anything for us when Villa went 2-0 up after just twenty minutes with Andy Gray, I believe, getting one of the goals.
But Burnley came back with Brian Flynn netting five minutes before half time and then again two minutes after the restart to give the Clarets a much needed point. A win would have seen us out of the bottom three but we remained third from bottom, behind Birmingham on goal average.
The game proved to be the last top flight game played by Alan Stevenson and the last Turf Moor appearance for Burnley skipper Colin Waldron.
We line up: Alan Stevenson, Derek Scott, Keith Newton, Billy Rodaway, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Colin Morris, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Brian Flynn, Mike Summerbee.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2004/05 | LC | h | 3-1 | 11,184 | Branch Camara Valois |
2005/06 | LC | a | 0-1 | 26,872 | . |