Sean Dyche: No heartache over Aston Villa's Tom Heaton

The 33-year-old ended a six-year spell at Turf Moor, in which he captained the club, by moving to Villa this summer and Dyche said: “I’m pretty good with these things emotionally.

“There’ll be no emotion during the game but before, maximum respect for Tom both on and off the pitch, great fella, my first ever signing here for the grand total of zero and then he’s been a brilliant servant.

“After the game full respect again but during it, it won’t really cross my mind, it never does when we’re playing against old players. There’s been loads of different players who’ve moved on and we’ve played against them down the years.”

Heaton was Burnley’s first-choice keeper for most of last season but, with fellow England international Nick Pope waiting in the wings and Joe Hart also at the club, the Clarets accepted an £8million bid from Villa.

Both Heaton and Pope were in the most recent England squad, and Dyche said: “He’s a very, very good keeper, we know that.

“It was one of them, sometimes the business side of it works for everyone, and that’s all it was. I don’t think there was a dramatic thirst for him to leave or for us to lose Tom, it was just the fact that all the business things that needed to be right were right. So there’s certainly no bad feelings about the situation and I look forward to speaking to him.”

Defender James Tarkowski described Heaton as the leader among the Burnley players and admitted his character is missed in the dressing room. “It’s probably going to be a bit strange,” he said of the reunion. “Heats was obviously a massive part of our group for so long and our leader to be honest.

Heaton won’t be the only one meeting up with old acquaintances on Saturday, with Burnley having former Villans Matt Lowton and Ashley Westwood set to start against their former club.