And then there were two. Aston Villa v Burnley is now the sole surviving 3pm kick off in the Premier League on Saturday with Leeds v Arsenal due to join in at 5.30. The emergency Covid provisions recently voted for by the clubs themselves state fixtures should go ahead where each team are able to field 14 eligible players (starting 11 + 3 subs). It should be borne in mind however that our game on Wednesday against Watford was called off less than 3 hours before kick off. Are long suffering supporters expected to roll the dice before setting off on their journeys or maybe make a surreptitious phone call to enquire after the health of the club cat?

This will be the occasion for the Premier League’s longest serving manager to meet the newest recruit to its ranks. Steven Gerrard spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool and England, captaining both. His senior managerial career began in 2018 with Rangers. In the 2020-21 season Rangers were crowned Scottish Premier League Champions, winning their first title in 10 years and doing so without losing a single league match. The English Premier League beckoned and in November 2021 Gerrard was appointed head coach at struggling Aston Villa. With 4 wins in the 6 league games played under their new manager Villa have moved up to 10th place in the table with 22 points from 17 games. Victory over Burnley on Saturday would take them above Spurs into 7th place while Burnley will need a win themselves to move out of the bottom three.

Aston Villa are in good form. Their only two defeats under Gerrard coming in single goal losses to Manchester City and Liverpool. On Tuesday they ran out comfortable 2-0 winners against Norwich at Carrow Road with goals from Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins. Watkins is likely to start against Burnley assisted in attack by Emiliano Buendia and Carney Chukwuemeka. Ex-Claret Danny Ings could also be drafted in to face his former club. Burnley will still be without Connor Roberts but will be hoping, following the postponement of their game against Watford, that Maxwel Cornet is now fully recovered from a thigh strain.

The match referee is Andy Madley with Jon Moss on VAR. Moss awarded a controversial penalty for handball to Manchester City in their match against Wolves last Saturday which VAR was unable to overturn though it seemed to all the world that the ball had struck the rib cage of Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho and not his arm. The weather forecast is for cloudy conditions with light winds. The Covid forecast is however highly volatile. Who knows if the match goes ahead we may be first on MOTD or at the very least second! COYC!