FORMER Claret Steven Thompson expects Burnley to have too much quality for Aberdeen in their Battle of Britain Europa League tie - although he thinks Sean Dyche's side will face a tough evening at Pittodrie.

Thompson, who spent three years at Turf Moor and made 100 appearances for the Clarets, is now a respected pundit in Scotland and has seen plenty of the Dons in recent seasons, with Aberdeen finishing Scottish Premiership runners-up four years in a row.

He has been impressed with the job done by Derek McInnes at Pittodrie, but still fancies his former club to progress to the third qualifying round.

"They’re a very decent team, every year we see them rise to the challenge and get stronger and stronger," Thompson said of the Dons. "Last year Rangers were back in the league but Aberdeen still finished second.

"They’ve got a manager in Derek McInnes who is highly sought after, Rangers and Sunderland have tried to get him, but he’s very content at Aberdeen.

"They’re a very organised team, they work extremely hard. They’ve got players than can hurt you but they’ll be massive underdogs for the game.

"Burnley had such an incredible season last year, they’ll be looking to strengthen in the summer again, it will be a very difficult game for Aberdeen to get anything out of.

"If you look at the two sides objectively Burnley are far, far ahead of Aberdeen.

"The odds will be heavily stacked in Burnley’s favour to go through the tie, it won’t be easy at Pittodrie, but I think the quality they have should be enough to see them get through."

The first leg on Thursday, July 26 takes place at Pittodrie and McInnes' men could have a fitness edge as well, with Aberdeen returning to pre-season training nine days earlier than the Clarets, who are back on Monday, July 2.

"Pittodrie is a very difficult away fixture for any team, they've got great support, it will be full, they'll be very noisy and it will be hostile," Thompson said.

"Aberdeen are used to starting early, our summer now up here for a lot of the players is very short, last year I think Aberdeen had two weeks off.

"They’re used to coming back early. They might have a head start in terms of preparations and fitness, but I’m pretty sure Sean Dyche will have his boys up to speed and ready for the game."

Thompson was part of the Burnley side that played in the Premier League in 2009/10, but he admits seeing the Clarets in Europe looked a distant proposition during his time at the club.

He left in the summer of 2011 and returned north of the border to spend five years with St Mirren, before swapping the boots for a microphone in 2016.

"When we got promoted to the Premier League with Burnley the infrastructure that is there now wasn’t in place," the 39-year-old said.

"Coming down and going up again had its benefits, because you learn how to do it properly second time.

"Anybody looking from the outside, to see a club like Burnley and a town like Burnley, with 75,000 people, for a club of that size to compete the way they did in the Premier League last year and to be in Europe is massively overachieving.

"It’s absolutely down to the manager and the staff and the hard work that has been put in.

"It’s brilliant to see Burnley challenging in Europe. It’s something you’d never have thought would happen given the teams in the Premier League.

"To get one of those qualification spots in the first place is even more impressive, to finish above some of the teams they’ve finished above, the size of budgets and size of clubs they finished above is a phenomenal achievement."