Goodison Park Gears Up: Everton Takes on Aston Villa
Everton versus Aston Villa has a lot at stake in this EPL matchup. For Everton, this team is fighting to stay out of the relegation zone, while conversely, Aston Villa is attempting to seize the top of the table and produce a fairy tale end for this club.
Match Details
This tense matchup will happen on January 14th, Sunday, with a kick-off time of 14:00 GMT. The match is held at Everton’s home ground of Goodison Park.
Team News
Like most teams, Aston Villa will have a few missing players in this upcoming match, including Emiliano Buendia, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans, and Robin Olsen. Bertrand Isidore Traore will be out due to his involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Everton has a fairly healthy team ready to play, with Idrissa Gana Gueye in the Africa Cup, but there are also injuries to Bamidele Alli, Ashley Young, Abdoulaye Doucoure, and Dwight McNeil.
Recent Form
Aston Villa has done well to reach second place on the table and is certainly one of the contenders to take home the Premier League title this year. Villa is currently with 42 points (three behind Liverpool) and has three wins, one loss, and one draw in their last five matches. Villa’s last game ended in a 3-2 victory over Burnley.
Everton, meanwhile, is 17th on the EPL table and is dangerously close to the relegation zone with 16 points. They have two wins and three losses in their previous five matchups, and their last match was a crushing 0-3 loss to Wolverhampton.
Head-to-Head
Although Everton did beat Aston Villa in a recent Carabao Cup match, 2-1, it’s still Villa with the better record. Aston Villa has defeated Everton in the last four Premier League meetings, with one of those being a massive 4-0 win.
Key Players to Watch
This game will be a bit tough for Everton, as the team is likely to miss Abdoulaye Doucouré (6 goals) and Dwight McNeil (2 goals and 4 assists), and these are two of the squad’s best players. There is a small chance they’ll be ready, but it’ll be a match-time decision if they are fit.
Aston Villa will rely heavily on the talents of Ollie Watkins, who has been playing incredibly well recently with 9 goals and 9 assists in 20 matches. Luiz and Bailey have been equally great with 6 goals each, and it’s not hard to see why Villa has been so powerful this season.
Tactical Overview
Aston Villa has been great at attacking with wings and finishing goal-scoring chances, although there’s still work to be done on defending against through-ball attacks.
Predictions
As of now, it’s Aston Villa as the favourite with odds to win at 6/4, Everton has high odds at 37/20, and a draw is 13/5. Over 2.5 goals is listed at 8/11, while the Anytime Goalscorer bet is pretty safe with Ollie Watkins at 22/5. Everton’s chances to win are 35%, Aston Villa’s at 39%, and a draw is currently 26%.
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