3 Aston Villa vs 2 Everton
Amadou Onana faces former club as Villa take on Everton.
Aston Villa, aiming for back-to-back wins, welcome struggling Everton to Villa Park on Saturday, with former Toffee Amadou Onana set to face his old club for the first time.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Leicester City saw the club move into 7th place with 6 points (2W, 0D, 1L) just before the international break. Amadou Onana's second goal for Villa at 28 minutes got Unai Emery’s side in the lead before Jhon Durán doubled the advantage at 63 minutes, leaving Facundo Buonanotte’s 73rd-minute goal as a consolation.
Villa (WLW) will be looking to earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season when they face Everton on home turf, a side whom they have not lost to since their return to the top flight in 2019 (7W, 3D, 0L). In addition, Villa kept seven shutouts and conceded only three goals in that run.
With the likes of 6th-placed Brentford (6 points) taking on Manchester City and 4th-placed Arsenal (7 points) facing Spurs in a highly anticipated London derby this weekend, a victory on Saturday for Villa would see the club climb into the top four while also handing the hosts a maiden home win this season. Amadou Onana will be facing his former side for the first time since his departure from Everton when Unai Emery deploys the preferred 4-4-1-1 with Ollie Watkins in attack.
Ezri Konsa was forced off at the hour mark in England’s 2-0 win over Finland and remains in doubt for this weekend’s clash. In addition, Unai Emery’s side will be without Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara, and Matty Cash.
Everton
Everton are rooted to the bottom of the table following three defeats in a row, after a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth having conceded two stoppage-time goals. It was a particularly embarrassing defeat, considering Everton were two goals up before conceding three times in nine minutes after Semenyo struck in the 87th minute.
Sean Dyche, who is already in the spotlight, was left ‘frustrated’ after the defeat, pointing out a loss of concentration. On Saturday, he will be looking to lift Everton off the bottom when the Blues make the trip to Villa Park despite a torrid away record against the hosts.
Winless in five Premier League away games against Villa, Everton have lost four of them, a stark contrast to their previous away form against Villa having won three of four beforehand. In addition, coming off the back of an international break has not been particularly favourable for the Toffees, with Everton losing eight of ten such games.
Dyche is tipped to deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation with Dominic Calvert-Lewin in attack for this clash against Villa.
Team form
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