Aston Villa vs Everton

Villa Park forms the backdrop for the 211th top-flight encounter between opening Premier League matchday underachievers Aston Villa and Everton.

Despite seeing the club-record signing Moussa Diaby get on the scoresheet on his Premier League debut, Aston Villa will want to forget the opening weekend as soon as possible after finishing on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle United. Villa’s worst league start since 1951 casts doubt on their bid to extend an eye-catching eight-game unbeaten H2H run against Everton in top-flight action (W6, D2). With Tyrone Mings joining fellow first-team stalwart Emiliano Buendia on the sidelines with a long-term injury, Unai Emery’s best hope of building on Villa’s stunning seven-game winning home run toward the end of last season is for Pau Torres to live up to his extravagant price tag. The ex-Villarreal center-back will slot next to EzriKonsa at the heart of Villa’s defense that has kept Everton goalless in three of their last four Premier League home H2Hs (W3, D1).

In the meantime, Everton avoided relegation right at the death last season, courtesy of a narrow 1-0 home win over Bournemouth. However, Goodison Park collapsed on the 2023/24 opening weekend as Fulham stunned the ‘Toffees’ 1-0, suggesting Sean Dyche’s troops could be staring down the barrel of another season-long fight against the drop. Everton’s notoriously poor away form could lead to an unwanted prospect of losing back-to-back opening league games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1956/57. Indeed, the visitors have only won once on their last 15 Premier League travels (D7, L7)! Given Dyche’s well-documented defensive philosophy, it’s barely a surprise they’ve failed to score on 50% of their top-flight trips in 2023 (5/10).