Aston Villa vs Everton

Aston Villa’s quest for their first Premier League home win of 2024/25 brings a downtrodden Everton side to Villa Park this weekend.

Despite losing their only home league game of 2024/25 to Arsenal on matchday two (0-2), Aston Villa excelled on the road before the international break, beating Leicester City and West Ham via an identical 2-1 scoreline. Unai Emery’s men will be confident about opening their home account for the season against out-of-sorts Everton, a side they’ve not lost to in any of their ten H2Hs since earning back top-flight promotion in 2019 (W7, D3). Adding to Villa’s confidence, they’ve won their last five post-international break outings in the Premier League. However, the Lions cannot take this encounter lightly, considering they’ve claimed just four victories across their last 12 league matches at Villa Park (D4, L4) following a remarkable 15 consecutive wins beforehand.

Meanwhile, after losing to Brighton and Tottenham by 3+ goals ‘to nil’ in their first two Premier League games of 2024/25, Everton seemed close to posting their first home league win this season, only for Bournemouth to overhaul a 2-0 deficit in a stunning 3-2 victory at Goodison Park on the stroke of the international break. A third consecutive defeat at the start of the new campaign marked Everton’s worst league start since 1958/59 when they lost their opening six league outings. Manager Sean Dyche is desperate to turn his side’s fortunes around, seeking inspiration in his decent-looking record of just one loss from his last four away matches as a manager in September (W1, D2).