Aston Villa and Everton will face each other this Saturday in the early kick-off fixture of the second game of the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Venue: Villa Park (Birmingham)
Key Statistics
Aston Villa have won just two of their last 12 Premier League matches.
The hosts are unbeaten in their last six head-to-head games with Everton, winning four of those games and drawing the other two.
Villa’s Danny Ings loves playing Everton, and his six strikes against them is the joint-highest number of goals he’s scored against one single opponent.
Everton are undefeated in each of their last 11 opening away games of the campaign (W5, D6).
The Toffees won just two away games last season – their least number of away victories since the 2003-04 campaign.
No player featured against (34), or beat, Aston Villa coach Steven Gerrard more often than Everton coach Frank Lampard (16) during their playing careers.
This is the 105th meeting between Aston Villa and Everton in the English top flight – the most between any two sides in history.
Head to head
In 54 Premier League meetings between both sides, Aston Villa have enjoyed supremacy as they have won 22 times while Everton have 13 wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Aston Villa: L-W-D-W-W
Everton: L-W-W-L-L
Aston Villa
Aston Villa will look to get their first win of the season when they welcome Everton to Villa Park on Saturday.
After an encouraging pre-season that saw them go unbeaten in five games, which included a credible 2-2 draw with Manchester United, the hosts began the season in the worst possible way, losing to a newly promoted side Bournemouth.
In a one-sided game that saw them control 66% of the ball while registering 17 shots, two set-piece goals from Jefferson Lerma and Kieffer Moore condemned them to a loss and extended their winless run in the Premier League to five games (D2, L3).
Their poor form has led to some discontent from some fans who are beginning to turn on the team and Steven Gerrard. The former Liverpool player has added some big names to his squad this summer as he looks to improve on his side’s 14th place finish last season.
He will be desperate to win this game against his old enemy and to alleviate some of that pressure he is currently facing. Given that his team are unbeaten in their last six games against the Toffees, he will fancy their chances of extending the unbeaten run further this weekend.
Possible Aston Villa starting line-up
Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne; John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara; Philippe Coutinho, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey.
Injured: Tyrone Mings
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Everton
Everton will look to bounce back from a disappointing 1-0 loss to Chelsea in their first game when they travel to Birmingham this Saturday.
Everton manager Frank Lampard was dealt a huge blow in the game against Chelsea as he lost two of his defenders Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina to long-term injuries. Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin is another player that has been ruled out for an extended period, worsening Everton’s already stretched squad.
However, the Toffees have added Conor Coady and Amadou Onana to their squad and will be hoping the duo will be able to help them get their first win over Aston Villa since 2019.
But given that they have failed to find the back of the net in each of their last three visits to Villa Park despite attempting 38 shots without success in these matches, they will have to push extra hard this time to get the desired win.
Possible Everton starting line-up
Jordan Pickford; Mason Holgate, Michael Keane, James Tarkowski; Nathan Patterson, Alex Iwobi, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Vitalii Mykolenko; Anthony Gordon, Dwight McNeil, Salomon Rondon.
Injured: ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, Tom Davies, Andre Gomes, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Andros Townsend
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Aston Villa 2-1 Everton
