Happy Haunting: Perez and Delph among this weekend's Premier League club comebacks

As most Premier League teams recover from their Carabao Cup exploits in midweek ahead of gameweek seven in England's top-flight there are a handful of players preparing to face their former clubs.

We run through this week's likely starters that will be hoping to get one over on their ex.

We start at Villa Park, where as many as three of the expected starting players will be hoping to haunt their old employers, all with a point to prove.

From Aston Villa's perspective, Tom Heaton is sure to line up in goal against a Burnley side he captained in the Premier League prior to his summer move. As far as the England international is concerned, he'll be aiming to prove that the decision to trade Clarets was a forward-thinking one.

As yet Villa have struggled to see results out back in the Premier League, leading at both Tottenham and Arsenal before falling to late defeats. While Heaton could do little to prevent either, he has made one costly error against Bournemouth already this season and will be keen to be on top form to enable his new club to bridge a four-point gap to his old one.

On the opposing side, both Matt Lowton and Ashley Westwood were handed their chance in top tier football by Aston Villa. While the former left for Turf Moor the season before the good ship Villa sunk in 2017, Westwood was a part of the team relegated in humiliating fashion that year having moved to Burnley in January.

Some were surprised when the midfielder was handed a second shot in the Premier League but after an underwhelming debut campaign he - unlike Lowton - has become a mainstay in the side. In fact the 29-year old was named Burnley's player of the year last season and will be desperate to prove many of the Villa fanbase that doubted his top-flight credentials wrong.

Elsewhere, Tottenham host Southampton knowing that anything short of a victory would bookend a dreadful week for the club. Mauricio Pochettino will be facing a former employer, while so too will one of his players.

Knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League Two Colchester in midweek following defeat at Leicester last weekend, Toby Alderweireld will return to the side to face Southampton.

It was a loan spell on the south coast that convinced Tottenham to sign the Belgian permanently from Atletico Madrid and he hasn't disappointed since. In his season with Saints back in 2014/15 Alderweireld started 26 times en route to a seventh placed finish, which is a position his current club occupy after a disappointing start.

In Saturday's late kick-off, meanwhile, Fabian Delph will come head-to-head with his old Manchester City clubmates, tasked with preventing another demolition job from Pep Guardiola's men. While the former Aston Villa captain enjoyed a hugely successful spell at the Etihad,  winning back-to-back league titles, he was never really given the chance to play in his preferred position.

Now operating at the heart of the Everton midfield, Delph hasn't yet shown his best form for the Toffees and he'll be desperate to do so against a club that arguably stunted his own development.

Last but certainly not least, Sunday's showdown between Leicester and Newcastle represents a second opportunity for Ayoze Perez to haunt his old club. The Spaniard has already made the trip back to St. James' Park in the cup but this will be his first league meeting against the Magpies having been their match winner in this fixture back in April.

Yet to score for his new employers and struggling to really impact games from the right wing, Perez hasn't completed 90 minutes for the Foxes in the league and will be hopeful of getting off the mark against some familiar faces.