The third weekend of Premier League action begins on Friday night this week and it does so with a battle of two of the oldest clubs in the country as Aston Villa take on Everton in a competitive opening to the latest set of matches.
These two sides have had very different beginnings to the season but with things settling down now they will be eager to take advantage of playing first this weekend to get three points on the board and put their feet up and watch everyone else slug it out.
Aston Villa
You can’t fault Aston Villa for passion and commitment, indeed you would expect that as a bare minimum with a fan in charge of the team, but they have found the step up to the Premier League a bit of a culture shock in terms of the required quality. They are not the first and they won’t be the last for that to happen to and actually given the amount of players they brought into the squad in the summer it was probably inevitably going to take them a while to gel and get up to speed.
The thing that will really disappoint Dean Smith is that they have shot themselves in the foot a couple of times. That is again not adjusting to the extra quality of the league and that is a step up they are going to have to make quickly. Successive home defeats to start the campaign will add to the nerves and the doubts which will be creeping in so this is a big game for the Villans even this early in the season.
Everton
You would think with the amount of money that Marco Silva has spent on his squad, Everton would be a fee flowing and entertaining side by now. At the minute they are the opposite of that. They are resilient in defence and picking up the pieces at the other end, although you feel when their summer signings bed in and get up to speed that could all change. The good thing for Silva is he only has to improve one end of the pitch.
That is going to come naturally too as Moise Kean gets up to speed. He looks the exciting centre forward that Everton have been crying out for over a period of time and with the creativity in place to supply him, you would expect the goals to start flowing for the Toffees, even though pre-season and their start to the season suggests otherwise. Given how vulnerable Villa have looked defensively this could be the night the Merseysiders click into gear.
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Team News
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has confirmed that Kortney Hause is available after recovering from injury but both Jonathan Kodjia and James Chester are out. Marvelous Nakamba could make his debut.
Everton boss Marco Silva has Morgan Schneiderlin back from suspension while Lucas Digne has recovered from a fitness doubt. Fabian Delph remains sidelined.
Betting
I like Everton here. I don’t think this will be a high scoring match but it is the Villa defence that could be more vulnerable to attacks than the Everton one, which has been resolute and extremely tight in their two matches so far. Cynics could argue they’ve not played much but they don’t go up against much here either.
I worry for Villa now. With the euphoria of their first home game not being enough to inspire a win against a beatable opponent you have to think a significant improvement is needed if they are going to win this. Everton don’t need much progress up top to be a really dangerous side at with the 0.25 Asian line the visitors look good here.
Tips
Back Everton (-0.25AH) to beat Aston Villa for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
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