STAR PREVIEW Sat: Aston Villa v Everton

Everton will be looking to continue their impressive start to the 2021/22 Premier League campaign when they travel to Villa Park for a tasty-looking encounter with Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.

Benitez must already be beginning to change the minds of many of the supporters who were angered by his appointment back in June with what has been a very strong start to the season. Their victory against Burnley last week lifted them up to fourth-place with 10 points from four matches.

Summer signing Demarai Gray is also already looking like the bargain of the season. The former Leicester City man arrived in Merseyside from Bayer Leverkusen for just a reported £1.8m, but already has three goals to his name in four league matches.

The pessimistic Toffees fans may point towards last season where they had a similar start under Carlo Ancelotti before eventually tailing off, but Everton certainly feel better and more well-rounded than last year in the early stages of this season.

Aston Villa v Everton
Premier League
17:30 Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Premier League / Sky Sports Ultra HD

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
MAY 2021 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 0-0 Everton
MAY 2021 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 1-2 Aston Villa
JULY 2020 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 1-1 Aston Villa
AUG 2019 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 2-0 Everton
MAR 2016 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 1-3 Everton
NOV 2015 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 4-0 Aston Villa
MAY 2015 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
OCT 2014 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 3-0 Aston Villa
FEB 2014 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 2-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa have had a mixed start to the new season following the £100m departure of star man Jack Grealish with the Villains’ new-look squad still yet to hit top gear.

They were outclassed in their most recent outing against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Romelu Lukaku got his first goals back at the Bridge following his return from Inter Milan with Mateo Kovavic grabbing the other one in a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Although they did pick up a point against Brentford and defeat struggling Newcastle, Villa do appear to be struggling with the loss of Grealish and that’s something manager Dean Smith needs to work out sooner rather than later.

I expect Villa to steadily improve as the season progresses and I don’t anticipate a amount of points to separate these two sides come the end of the season, but Everton do currently appear to have more momentum behind them.

For that reason, we’re backing them to take home the three points with Demarai Gray finding the back of the net again.

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⚠️ Stakes advised on a scale of 0-10 points depending on confidence from our preview team

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