Dean Smith’s Aston Villa must beat Everton at Goodison Park on Thursday to keep their faint survival hopes alive.
Villa sit second from bottom and four points from safety, while Everton are stuck in mid-table on 45 points.
The Toffees returned from the lay-off in decent form, drawing with Merseyside rivals Liverpool before beating Norwich and Leicester.
However, Everton are now without a win in their previous three games. Defeats to Tottenham and Wolves, along with a draw against Southampton, have kept the club in the bottom half.
Their defensive frailties were exposed last time out, as Wolves scored three past a shoddy backline. But the team has also lacked a cutting edge in attack lately.
Having said that, Everton will take confidence from the fact that they have only lost three of their last 24 home games in all competitions.
By contrast, Villa have only managed to win one of their previous 15 away games in all competitions. But their problems don’t end there.
Aston Villa finally ended a ten-game winless streak in the Premier League by beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday.
The Villains had failed to score in their three games prior, losing to Wolves, Liverpool, and Manchester United by an aggregate scoreline of 6-0.
With relegation-rivals Bournemouth, Watford, and West Ham all picking up wins recently, Aston Villa can’t really afford to drop any more points from now until the end of the season.
Head-to-head: Villa have only won eight of their 35 league games this term, although one of those victories came against Everton back in August.
Goals from Wesley and Anwar El Ghazi saw Villa pick up their first top-flight win of the season, three games into 2019/20.
However, it’s fair to say that Everton have generally enjoyed playing Villa in recent years. The Toffees have only lost two of their previous 13 meetings with Villa – winning nine and drawing two.
Team news: Yerry Mina, Cenk Tosun, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, and Fabian Delph are all sidelined for Everton, but Andre Gomes and Mason Holgate could return from injury.
As for Aston Villa, Wesley and Tom Heaton remain long-term absentees, while defenders Neil Taylor and Kortney Hause are injury doubts.
Needless to say, Aston Villa need the points a lot more than Everton. However, the teams’ respective home and away records point towards a Toffees win.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score, but Everton are expected to come out on top.
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