Premier League: High Flying Villa Can Increase Jitters at Everton

Everton vs Aston Villa

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa are back in Premier League action on Sunday when they head to Merseyside to take on Sean Dyche’s Everton.

The Villains are riding high, second in the league table, and a win at Goodison Park will draw them level alongside leaders Liverpool. But a defeat for Everton will increase the nerves on Merseyside.

The Toffees were docked 10 points for financial irregularities in the autumn, but they wiped that penalty out quickly with a superb run of form.

Dyche and his team took on an “us against the world” mentality, and it looked like they were climbing away from danger, but three consecutive defeats have left the Toffees just a single point above the drop zone, and they could be back in the bottom three when they take the field on Sunday.

Villa won a tricky FA Cup tie away to Middlesbrough last week, while Everton drew 0-0 away to Crystal Palace. But now they are back to the bread and butter of the Premier League, and this is a high-stakes game for both teams.

Talking Points

Calvert-Lewin’s red card overturned

Everton have received a pre-match boost with the news that the FA has rescinded the red card handed out to striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin during the cup draw with the Eagles.

The player picked up the first straight red card of his career for a challenge on Nathaniel Clyne on 76 minutes. Calvert-Lewin slid in to the tackle and won the ball, and the on-field referee played on.

But because this was an all Premier League clash, VAR was in play, and the video official Craig Pawson couldn’t resist getting involved and the inevitable outcome was an early bath for the Everton star.

Sanity has prevailed and, as the card as been overturned, Calvert-Lewin’s three-match ban has disappeared, so he is ready to face Aston Villa.

But there is more worrying news in the Everton physio room where another key player looks doubtful.

Winger Dwight McNeil has been in superb form this season and is clearly thriving under Dyche, but he was stretchered off against Palace. And while the injury is not as bad as first feared, the latest reports fro Goodison Park say McNeil is not yet in full training and the Villa game might well come too early.

Despite their superb run of Premier League 2023 results towards the end of last year, after a difficult festive period, Everton are not out of the woods yet.

The latest Premier League 2024 betting odds price Dyche’s team at 6.00 to get relegated, but a run of great form from any of the bottom three, and they have all recently shown signs of fight, will give Everton plenty of work to do.

Emery’s Villa add steel to style

Aston Villa have received high praise for their fluid style of football this year, and they are in second place on merit as one of the best performing teams throughout the calendar year.

They finished the 2022-23 campaign so strongly that their European challenge comes as no surprise and, as well as playing fast-flowing football, they have recently shown how they can tough it out when required.

Emery praised his team’s resilience after they beat Middlesbrough thanks to a late Matty Cash winner, saying: “We played big passions, being mature. I think we are growing up in our mentality in matches like that.”

Emery’s team had a difficult afternoon against Burnley in their last league game, eventually winning 3-2 after the Clarets had twice pegged them back.

But once again, perseverance paid off for Emery’s men as Douglas Luiz converted an 89^th-minute penalty to cement their second place in the league table.

Luiz has been a key player in Villa’s charge to the top. As a box-to-box midfielder, he gives plenty of support to his creative teammates and a side which plays in such numbers going forwards is never far from a goal.

And with a striker of the quality of Ollie Watkins, who has nine goals and eight assists, Villa fans will expect their team to break down the Everton resistance.

History

Aston Villa have bossed the head-to-head meetings in the Premier League era with 24 wins to Everton’s 14.

And though the Toffees won a Carabao Cup clash in September, the return league fixture saw Emery’s team run out 4-0 winners.

With three wins, two draws, and a single defeat, Emery’s team is in better form than the Toffees, who are without a win in five and have lost four of the last six.

Betting Tip

Villa are riding high and are hungry for another win, but the pressure is always more intense at the bottom end of the table. And if Everton make a slow start, the nerves could easily creep into the stands.

The Villains are favourites to win this game at a SBOTOP price of 2.27 with Everton at 2.61, and the draw is priced at 3.24.

And while Dyche will set his team up to be hard to beat, Emery has some brilliant creative players in his lineup. So, if they start brightly, I think they will win quite comfortably.

 

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