Aston Villa (H)

Everton vs Aston Villa

Premier League

Goodison Park

Saturday October 18th 3pm

Nearly forgot we had a game this week with all the excitement over Lille away next week! A very important game, we have had a really tough start to the season in terms of injuries and fixtures, but we actually have a run of winnable ones coming up and a few players returning...now we just have to actually win them!

Team News

Ross Barkley is finally fit to return, and could be included in the squad today. Seamus Coleman, Steven Pienaar and James McCarthy are also expected to be fit again today. Sylvain Distin will likely come back after his er...hiatus to replace John Stones, who will be out for 10-14 weeks after ankle surgery. 

Ron Vlaar and Christian Benteke should return for Villa, but ex Blue Phillippe Senderos is doubtful. Fabian Delph picked up a shoulder injury on international duty and is likely to be out for 2 months.

Howard

Coleman-Jagielka-Distin-Baines

Barry-McCarthy

McGeady-Naismith-Pienaar
Lukaku

Ones to Watch

Ron Vlaar, defender and captain. Run of the mill defender who suddenly took on over the top world class status after a half decent World Cup for Holland.

Brad Guzan, goalkeeper. One of the best around, and a Fantasy League favourite.

Fabian Delph, midfielder. Villa's James McCarthy who will be a big miss for them today.

Tom Cleverley, midfielder, who could have signed for us on deadline day instead. Glad he didnt, so will probably score today.

Gabby Agbonlahor, striker and the bogeyman. Has an obscene scoring record against us since he scored against us on his debut in 2006. Even more remarkable for such an obscene player.

The Ex Factor

Gareth Barry (Aston Villa 1997-2009)

Appearances: 423 (18)

Goals:52

(Everton 2013-Present)

Appearances: 45 (1)

Goals:3

Phillippe Senderos (Everton 2010)

Appearances: 2 (1)

(Aston Villa 2014-Present)

Appearances: 8

Previous Meetings

(Premier League, February 1st 2014)

Everton 2-1 Aston Villa

(Naismith 74, Mirallas 85: Bacuna 34)

(Premier League, February 2nd 2013)

Everton 3-3 Aston Villa

(Anichebe 21, Fellaini 69, 90: Benteke 2, 61, Agbonlahor 24)

(Premier League, September 10th 2011)

Everton 2-2 Aston Villa

(Osman 19, Baines (P) 69: Petrov 63, Agbonlahor 83)

(Premier League, April 2nd 2011)

Everton 2-2 Aston Villa

(Osman 38, Baines (P) 83: Bent 47, 68)

(Premier League, October 31st 2009)

Everton 1-1 Aston Villa

(Bilyaletdinov 45: Carew 46)
Bilyaletdinov sent off 87: Cuellar sent off 90

Last Time

Everton 2-1 Aston Villa (Naismith 74, Mirallas 85: Bacuna 34) Premier League, February 1st 2014

A hard fought win in the middle of a tough run of games...same again please! Few injuries, battered in the week before the game, and Villa came to sit and defend. And it worked to perfection when Delph won a 50-50 in midfield allowing Benteke to slide in Bacuna who scored with Villa's only shot on target of the game. And then they defended, looked like we would never be able to break them down. Until 16 minutes to go, Steven Pienaar finally found the right pass to create an opening for Steven Naismith to score the equaliser. Then with just 5 minutes to go, Kevin Mirallas scored a beauty of a free kick to give us a crucial win.

Memorable Meeting

Everton 3-1Aston Villa (Rodwell 4, Arteta (P) 24, Cahill 76: Milner (P) 8) FA Cup 5th Round, February 15th 2009

 A game that always had the potential to be deflating, as it was our reward for beating Liverpool after a replay in the 4th round of the FA Cup, and Villa had a bit of a hoodoo over us at the time too. Got off to a perfect start when Jack Rodwell scored his first senior goal. His header from a corner was handled on the line by Stilyan Petrov, but before anyone could even appeal for the penalty, Rodwell lashed in the loose ball anyway. Didnt last long though, as just 4 minutes later, Villa won a penalty which James Milner scored. (A rather bizarre stat, this was the first penalty an opposition player had scored at Goodison in the FA Cup since Bill Shankley for Preston about 50 years earlier!) But less than 20 minutes later, we retook the lead with a penalty of our own, Mikel Arteta doing the honours. And from then on, it was the absolute epitomy of a great cup tie, end to end, could have gone either way, Villa looking the much more likely the later it got, then with 16 minutes left, we broke, Tim Cahill just with Brad Friedel to beat, and luckily for us, Cahill's mishit shot was actually more perfect than if he'd caught it how he liked! We went through the quarter final, eventually losing in the Final and ended the season above Villa.

Prediction

Must win. We lost last time I said that so we better not again! Everton 2-0 Aston Villa