At A Glance
Goodison Park hosts Aston Villa and the club’s fervent away support in the Premier League on Saturday.
The day’s early kick-off sees Steven Gerrard’s side looking to end a run of three top flight matches without a win following a 2-2 draw against Manchester United last time out.
When the two sides met earlier in the season, Matty Cash’s first goal for the club sparked a 3-0 win for Villa.
The Villans are four points above Everton heading into the game, with the Toffees set to begin life after Rafa Benitez.
The Spaniard was relieved of his duties after winning only one of his last 13 Premier League games in charge, with a 2-1 loss to Norwich City in their last outing the final straw.
Duncan Ferguson has been appointed caretaker manager as they bid to end a four-game winless run.
Standout Stats
Everton lost this exact fixture 2-1 in May last season – they’ve not lost back-to-back home league games against Aston Villa since March 1998.
Following their 3-0 win at Villa Park in September, Aston Villa are looking to secure their first league double over Everton since 2000-01.
Everton were joint-fifth in the clean sheet rankings in the Premier League last season, recording 12 shutouts overall. This season, only Newcastle and Watford have kept fewer clean sheets than the Toffees (3).
Everton have taken just five points in their last 12 Premier League matches (W1 D2 L9), the fewest they’ve won across a 12-game span since earning four points over 12 games between August and October 1994.
Aston Villa have conceded seven goals in their last three Premier League games (D1 L2), more than they had in their previous seven in the competition (6).
Everton have scored fewer first-half goals than any other Premier League side this season (5). The Toffees have failed to score before half-time in their last five games in the competition, last having a longer such run between December 2017 and January 2018 (6).
Everton have conceded the first goal in their last eight Premier League matches (W1 D1 L6), their longest run in Premier League history. Their previous longest was a seven-game run between April and August 1997.
As a player, Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard was on the winning side against Everton more often than he was against any other opponent in the Premier League (16) and lost just four of his 30 games against the Toffees. Only against Villa (12) did Gerrard score more Premier League goals than he did against Everton (9).
Jacob Ramsey had a hand in both of Aston Villa’s goals against Manchester United last time out, scoring one and assisting Philippe Coutinho’s equaliser. Ramsey had only been involved in two goals in his previous 39 Premier League appearances for the Villans (2 goals).
Philippe Coutinho scored in his first Premier League appearance for Aston Villa against Man Utd last time out, with only four players scoring in their first two games for the Villans in the competition: Dalian Atkinson (1992), Dion Dublin (1998), Ross Barkley (2020) and Danny Ings (2021).
The Last Meeting
Matty Cash’s first goal in claret and blue was the catalyst for victory as Aston Villa saw off Everton at Villa Park in September.
The right-back sprinted the length of the pitch in celebration after breaking the deadlock on 66 minutes with a fierce left-foot strike.
Three minutes later, Lucas Digne headed substitute Leon Bailey’s cross into his own net before the Jamaican scored on his Villa Park debut to the delight of a raucous crowd.
Team News
John McGinn is available to return after serving a one-game suspension against Manchester United. Ezri Konsa picked up a knock in that game and his participation is in doubt.
New signing Robin Olsen could be in the matchday squad against his former team, while Leon Bailey and Marvelous Nakamba remain out.
Everton could be boosted by the return of Allan, but Fabian Delph and Tom Davies have been ruled out.
The Boss
“You can quite clearly see, listen to and read the noises that are coming from Everton at the moment, which is the caretaker manager demanding a reaction. I don’t think it’s difficult to predict what’s going to be coming our way. I think you’re going to see a real cauldron of an atmosphere at Goodison, I think they’ll be behind the team. From our point of view, we need to be ready for that, we need to handle that and make sure we’re the best version of ourselves.”
Steven Gerrard
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