Lancashire

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Burnley.

Here are some of your comments:

Aston Villa fans

Chris: Great to see Donyell Malen and Ollie Watkins working together and goals coming now, still a bit wobbly and fragile towards the end. But heading up in the table and confidence returning to team and a couple of the players.

Tony: Clearly Malen was the star and overall a good result, but we're still nowhere near as fluid or balanced as last season and we've yet to be tested by a top side. Heading in the right direction and cautiously optimistic about the future - unlike two weeks ago!

Mossy: Much improved, but let Burnley back in with very poor concentration on their goal. Much harder tests await next with Spurs, Man City and Liverpool. They will really show us where we are. Don't understand why Harvey Elliot isn't getting a look in, not even off the bench. Really don't want to waste his time. Great finishing from Malen but just wish Rogers could get a goal or two for his confidence. UTV!

Andrew: Three wins in seven days. Not a bad effort for a team still getting up to speed. Malen looked very useful.

Burnley fans

Terry: Two good strikes from Villa - apart from that not much else. Need to sort out the defence which was our strength last year. Burnley need more bite up front.

Anthony: I'm not convinced this Burnley team has enough to stay up. We're competitive in most games but don't have the firepower to kill teams off. Have we a striker that can score 10-15? Nope. Martin Dubravka has been one of our best player so far this season - that says it all for me.

Graham: Competetent but uninspiring. Burnley started quite aggressively but plateaued after the first Villa goal and showed little threat until too late. We displayed our long-standing weakness - no great forward threat, and, after Jaidon Anthony went off, the little threat we showed reduced until the final 20 minutes. Armando Broja was brought in to solve the problem but shows little to inspire. His one chance, though offside, was completely missed. Hannibal, though at times frenetic, does bring some much needed urgency and drive but he remained an unused substitute.

Pundits Joe Hart and Danny Murphy join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley

• Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace

• Newcastle 2-0 Nottingham Forest

• Wolves 1-1 Brighton

• Brentford 0-1 Man City

Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Clarets fans can be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu as they flocked out of Villa Park.

Parker's team, who have competed well during games against Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City this season, found themselves in some excellent attacking positions in the first half in particular.

Hartman was denied by Martinez in a one v one situation, but was deemed to be offside from Walker's pass, while Cullen was thwarted by an excellent stop from the Villa keeper.

But the visitors were carved open far too easily for the opening goal, with Kamara given time and space to thread a lovely pass in behind Burnley's back five for Malen to run on to.

After Ugochukwu had halved the deficit, striker Armando Broja failed to make proper contact with a stoppage-time effort, but was offside anyway.

It meant Burnley are still pointless in four away games since their top-flight return and have crucial games against Leeds and Wolves - who are two points below them in bottom spot - to follow after the international break.

Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Burnley fans can be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu as they flocked out of Villa Park.

Scott Parker's team, who have competed well during games against Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City this season, found themselves in some excellent attacking positions in the first half in particular.

Quilindschy Hartman was denied by Emiliano Martinez in a one v one situation, but was deemed to be offside from Kyle Walker's pass, while Josh Cullen was thwarted by an excellent stop from the Villa keeper.

But the visitors were carved open far too easily for the opening goal, with Boubacar Kamara given time and space to thread a lovely pass in behind Burnley's back five for Donyell Malen to run on to and open the scoring.

After Lesley Ugochukwu had halved the deficit late in the second half, striker Armando Broja failed to make proper contact with a stoppage-time effort, but was offside anyway.

It meant Burnley are still pointless in four away games since their top-flight return and have crucial games against Leeds and Wolves - who are two points below them in bottom spot - to follow after the international break.

Burnley manager Scott Parker speaking to Sky Sports after the defeat to Aston Villa: "We were competitive, the second goal was poor from us. It's a young team and I think over the first seven games we have switched off at times. If you switch off for one second here you get punished.

On the defensive line: "It's another brand new team, it is a brand new defensive line and we are working tirelessly with that. We have switched off in certain moments and looked a bit young.

"There is frustration there because we have been really close. Perspective is something that I live by. We understand the challenge. We need to improve in certain areas and we will endeavour to do that."

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Villa's performance

What did you make of Burnley's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

There are five games in the Premier League on Sunday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Everton v Crystal Palace - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Newcastle v Nottingham Forest - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Wolves v Brighton - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 3

• Aston Villa v Burnley - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (after Singapore Grand Prix)

• Brentford v Man City (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 14:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Nottingham Forest" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Wolves v Brighton", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Bogarde, Kamara, Malen, Rogers, McGinn, Watkins

Burnley XI: Dubravka, Walker, Laurent, Tuanzebe, Esteve, Hartman, Tchaouna, Cullen, Florentino, Anthony, Foster

Aston Villa took a while to get going against Fulham but it was great movement by Ollie Watkins for his goal, and he needed that.

That was their first league win of the season, but I am not convinced Unai Emery's side will kick on from there. They beat Feyenoord in the Europa League on Thursday and their squad is going to be stretched.

The more I think about it, the more I quite fancy Burnley for a draw here.

To lose 5-1 last week was harsh on them, and they had frustrated Manchester City for a long time, the same as they did when they were beaten by Liverpool, and that is likely to be their gameplan here too.

My heart says Villa will win because of my time there - I almost reached double figures in appearances - but my head says Burnley, and this time, I am going to listen.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Image source, Rex Features

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has praised his side's dominance in their 2-0 win versus Charlton Athletic.

Goals from Thierry Small and Daniel Jebbison pushed the Rams into fourth place on 16 points as they ended the "very dangerous" Charlton's four game unbeaten run.

"We were really good today, very dominant from start to finish and I just said to the players, if anyone's watched Charlton as much as I have and the staff have this season, they'll realise how impressive that is because they've given everyone a game and been a handful for everyone," said Heckingbottom to BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Today we were very strong. I'm really pleased with how we went about it because one of their main threats is set plays.

"They've been very good from them, not only scoring goals. They're also not bothered that they don't play many passes; they're very dangerous.

"Nathan [Jones] sets his teams up well to press and try to win the ball and on that turnover, they'll be really quick and try to score goals."

Noel Sliney
BBC Sport senior journalist

The original team in claret and blue host a side with whom they have more than club colours in common so far this season. BBC Sport delves into the issues facing both teams before Sunday's meeting.

While promoted Burnley's place in the bottom three is no great surprise and can be mitigated by the fact their four defeats have all come against heavyweight opponents with vast resources, Aston Villa's slow start was not widely predicted.

Data analysts Opta calculated that Villa had the easiest opening five fixtures in the division - yet their first win didn't come until the sixth attempt, at home to an obliging Fulham last Sunday. An improved performance in that game, sandwiched between Europa League victories against Bologna and Feyenoord, suggests Villa are starting to snap out of their torpor.

Nonetheless, their attacking shortcomings are clear. Burnley copied Villa's club colours in 1910 and are mirroring the same issues as the Birmingham side on the pitch so far this season.

These are the two sides with the lowest expected goals (xG) tallies in the Premier League this season. Burnley's xG, a measure of how many goals a team is expected to score based on the quality of their chances, is 4.53. They have actually outperformed that, scoring six goals, but have had the joint fewest shots and shots on target in the division.

Villa have underperformed their xG by near-enough one goal in the league. More tellingly, they have only had a single shot which had more than a 50% probability of ending in the back of the net. It is not just Villa's forwards to blame either - their strangely passive build-up play in many games means they take 63.2 touches between shots on average, more than any other side.

Burnley manager Scott Parker admitted "our egos are dented" as a result of last weekend's 5-1 defeat by Manchester City, though he was "immensely proud" of his side's performance until the hour mark, when they were still level.

Nonetheless, the Clarets have lost all three away games this season, conceding 11 goals. They only let in eight goals in 23 Championship away fixtures in 2024-25.

Earning their first away points on Sunday will be a huge challenge, notwithstanding Villa's fragile confidence. Unai Emery's side have only lost once at home in the Premier League since the start of September last year – a record only Liverpool can match - and have the fourth highest points tally at home during that period.