Burnley and Aston Villa have been competing against one another for well over a century at this point, with their initial meeting taking place back in December 1882 – a game Villa won 4-2. Football FanCast has everything you need to know about the fixture before the two sides meet once again this weekend in the Premier League.
It would be difficult to assess the form of any teams going into this weekend, with it only being game week three, but it is all the more difficult with Burnley and Villa. In Burnley's case, they fell to a 3-0 defeat at home to treble-winning Manchester City in the season's opening game, but they did so looking genuinely quite threatening at points throughout. Add to that the fact that they couldn't play their second game of the campaign due to Luton Town's Kenilworth Road not being ready, which makes judging where they are a fool's game.
In Villa's case, it's been a few weeks of extremes. Despite coming into the new season surrounded by hype and full of promise, they were humbled 5-1 by a rampant Newcastle United side at St James Park. However, they bounced back the next week to smash Everton 4-0 at home, almost taking their frustrations from the first week out on their unsuspecting Merseyside opponents.
Add to that the Villans thumping 5-0 win against Scottish side Hibernian during the week to all but secure their spot in the Europa Conference League, and things are looking a lot rosier for the West Midlands side compared to just a couple of weeks ago.
It is certainly set up for a tasty encounter at Turf Moor.
Burnley vs Aston Villa: What's their head-to-head record?
Burnley and Aston Villa have met 122 times in their long histories, with the first encounter dating all the way back to 1882, which, for some context, is before clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham United were founded.
There are only four teams, Manchester United, Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, that Burnley have played more often than Villa over the years, with this weekend's encounter taking them clear of Tottenham Hotspur.
That said, it's a fixture that has favoured the Birmingham side, with them claiming 52 victories, slightly more than the Clarets' 41, with draws being a rare occurrence between these two, happening only 29 times thus far.
Burnley wins: 41 Draws: 29 Aston Villa wins: 52 Burnley vs Aston Villa: What's their record at Turf Moor?
So far, these two have played exactly half of their encounters at Turf Moor and half at Villa Park, and whilst Unai Emery's new team have certainly had the better of their Lancashire opponents more times than not over the years, Burnley are, unsurprisingly, the clear winners when playing at home.
In their 61 encounters in the northwest, the Clarets have come out on top 32 times – around 52% of the time – losing only 17 times and sharing the points 12 times.
With this weekend's clash being held at Turf Moor, Vincent Kompany will be hoping that his side can further improve their record.
Burnley wins: 32 Draws: 12 Aston Villa wins: 17 Burnley vs Aston Villa: What's their record at Villa Park?
While Burnley certainly have an impressive home record against Villa, the Midlands side have an even better record when hosting the two-time English Champions at Villa Park.
In their 61 meetings, the Lions have come away as victors 35 times, about 57% of the time. They have only lost nine games, which is considerably better than Burnley's loss rate at home.
That said, draws are slightly more common at Villa Park, with the points being shared on 17 separate occasions or about 28% of the time.
Burnley wins: 9 Draws: 17 Aston Villa wins: 35 Burnley vs Aston Villa: What's their Premier League record?
It might be a bit surprising to hear that despite both sides being massive clubs with long and illustrious histories, they have only met one another ten times in the league since the introduction of the Premier League in the 1992/93 season. Their first encounter in the new iteration of the top flight came in November 2009 at Turf Moor, resulting in a 1-1 draw.
In the resulting nine matches between the teams, Villa have had the slight edge, with them winning four out of the ten games, whereas Burnley have only won two, with the remaining four matches seeing the points shared.
However, whilst the Claret and Blue have a slight edge in terms of wins, there has yet to be any point in which they have been dominant over their opponents, never winning two games in a row in the Premier League.
Burnley wins: 2 Draws: 4 Aston Villa wins: 4 Burnley vs Aston Villa: What's their First Division record?
While the teams may have only met ten times in the Premier League since its inception 21 years ago, they have met 88 times in the old First Division, where the vast majority of their battles have taken place over the years.
Unfortunately for Burnley, it was a similar story here as well, with Villa winning 38 of the 88 games, which is about 43%, while they won 32 times or about 36%. So, whilst it was a more tightly contested affair, the Villans still slightly edged it in terms of wins.
There were periods of dominance for both teams in the old First Division, though, with Villa winning 13 of their 15 encounters between 1893 and 1900. Whereas Burnley won four of the seven games, they played against one another from 1947 to 1950.
Burnley wins: 32 Draws: 18 Aston Villa wins: 38 Burnley vs Aston Villa: Which team has the most goals?
Well, it's Aston Villa who have scored the most goals in the fixture, as you might've guessed, given their tendency to emerge as the victors when coming up against the Clarets. However, the discrepancy between how many either side have scored is perhaps lower than you might've first assumed.
In total, the Midlands side have scored 226 goals in 122 matches, giving them an impressive ratio of 1.85 goals a game when playing the Lancashire outfit. In return, Burnley have found the back of the net 192 times, which still gives them a fairly impressive ratio of 1.57 goals per game.
Interestingly, both sides have scored exactly the same amount of home goals, 133, with Villa being far more lethal away from home and scoring 93 away goals compared to Burnley's 59.
Burnley goals: 192 Aston Villa goals: 226 Burnley vs Aston Villa: What is Burnley's biggest win?
Aston Villa might have more wins than Burnley, but the Clarets have won by the most significant margin. In February 1921 – the year Burnley became champions of England for the first time – the men from Lancashire put seven past Villa, only conceding one in return.
The Man-of-the-Match was unquestionably Joe Anderson, who scored five of the side's seven goals, with James Lindsay and Billy Watson getting in on the action towards the end of the game.
While there have been games with more goals since this drubbing from Burnley, there hasn't been a more one-sided game.
Burnley vs Aston Villa: What is Villa's biggest win?
Villa's biggest win against Burnley came back in December 1891, with the Birmingham side smashing the Clarets 6-1 in the First Division. The Man-of-the-Match in this encounter was Franck Histilloles, who opened the scoring with two quick goals before rounding the game off with another to secure his hat trick.
There have been some other big wins since, like their 5-2 win in February 2010, but they are yet to match or surpass the result from over a century ago.
Burnley vs Aston Villa: What are the recent results?
The last five meetings between the two sides have seen Aston Villa ever so slightly edge it in terms of results, with the Claret and Blues winning two games, drawing two and losing just once to Burnley in January 2021.
That said, the last encounters have all been reasonably close affairs, with the biggest win being Villa's 3-1 triumph over Mike Jackson's Burnley in May 2022.
The teams' last game ended in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park. The visitors opened the scoring in the 45th minute thanks to a spot kick from Ashley Barnes after Emiliano Buendia bundled into Maxwell Cornet in the box.
It didn't take long for the hosts to respond, with the Bunedia making up for his previous foul by scoring in the 48th minute. The game ended with a sending-off for Burnley defender Matt Lowton and was the team's final Premier League game until promotion at the end of last season.
Burnley vs Aston Villa: When is it?
Burnley host Aston Villa on Sunday, 27th August at 2pm British Summer Time. Whilst it may no longer be one of the most notable games on the calendar for the wider audience, there is so much history behind it and a history of being entertaining.
This weekend's clash should be one of the most enthralling for quite some time, with both clubs looking to make a serious impression on the league. Villa will be looking up the table as they bid to disrupt the traditional 'big six' under the stewardship of the tactically astute Emery.
Whereas Burnley will want to maintain the same threat they displayed against City, hopefully coming away with the points this time out.
