12:30 Saturday

Aston Villa vs Everton Stats

  • Aston Villa are without a clean sheet across their last six Premier League games
  • Aston Villa are undefeated in their last six matches against Everton in all competitions
  • Everton have failed to win 16 of their last 17 away league outings

 

Betting Tip: Aston Villa 2+ Goals

Let’s not beat around the bush, Aston Villa were horrendous against Bournemouth on the opening day and despite having over twice as many shots as the ‘Cherries’, they mustered just two shots on target throughout the entire match and they came inside the opening 21 minutes.

Vast improvement is needed and I think they’ll get that here. On paper, they have a squad that’s capable of tussling for a spot in Europe, but in order to get there they’ll need to become a more cohesive unit. Their Jekyll and Hyde performances often see them scrutinised in the media but on their day, they’re a match for anyone.

Gerrard’s side have at least scored in 21 of their 27 Premier League clashes under his tutelage and they should dominate this one against an Everton side that looked as though they had no real plan and were relying on a moment of individual brilliance.

The ‘Toffees’ look really poor. They were lucky to lose just 1-0 against Chelsea and realistically should’ve conceded at least one more goal. Irrespective of the new signings, i’m fully expecting Aston Villa to emerge victorious here, but i can’t be backing them at odds on given their unreliability. Instead, I'll back them to score two or more goals for even money.

Betting Tip: Aston Villa & BTTS 

I mentioned above that I think Everton are well below par at the moment and I fear for them once again this season. They are just far too easy to score against and they have carried last season’s form into this one which is a cause for concern.

However, I watched Aston Villa’s feeble attempts at defending set-pieces against Bournemouth and I do think Everton can assert their dominance in the aerial duels. With a lack of true outlets and forwards with pace to cause Aston Villa problems in behind, set-piece situations may be what Frank Lampard decides to focus on.

Nevertheless, despite the poor performance against Bournemouth, I like the ‘Villans’ to apply plenty of pressure on the ‘Toffees’ backline and they should be able to create enough opportunities to win the game even if Everton do manage to hit the back of the net.

I’ll have half a point on the hosts winning with both teams also scoring.

Villa & BTTS - 0.5pts