Having made contrasting starts to the Premier League season, Aston Villa and Everton will convene at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
While Villa have won two games from three so far, a bitter last-gasp defeat last time out leaves the Toffees still seeking both their first point of the 2024-25 campaign and a long-awaited new owner.
Match preview
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After an opening-day win over West Ham United was followed with a 2-0 home loss to Arsenal, Aston Villa went into this month's international hiatus on a high by moving onto six points from a possible nine in the Premier League.
Villa edged out Leicester City at King Power Stadium, courtesy of both Amadou Onana and super-sub Jhon Duran netting their second goal of the season, with a 2-1 result securing back-to-back away wins.
Despite only starting three Premier League games since arriving in England, Duran has scored seven times in the competition to date - six as a substitute - and the much-admired striker is proving an able deputy to main marksman Ollie Watkins.
Head coach Unai Emery requires such squad depth for the challenges ahead, as his side will fight on four fronts again this season, with two domestic cups and the league being joined on the agenda by an upcoming adventure in the new-look Champions League.
Ahead of Villa's midweek trip to Switzerland, where they will meet reigning Swiss Super League champions Young Boys, the task of posting a first home win of the season is at hand.
Following a run of 15 straight Villa Park victories from March to December 2023, the Birmingham club have since won just four of the next 12 league games at their second-city headquarters - but their recent record against Everton suggests that trend could be defied on Saturday.
Since returning to the top flight in 2019, Villa have remained unbeaten in all 10 of their meetings with the Merseyside club, winning seven times, keeping seven clean sheets and conceding just three goals.
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In fact, not only have Everton lost four of their last five Premier League matches at Villa Park, but they have only scored once in the process - a Lucas Digne own goal against his old club back in August 2022.
The last Toffees player to score a league goal away to this week's hosts was Romelu Lukaku over eight years ago, so precedent is against Sean Dyche's side as well as current form.
Along with Southampton, Everton are one of two teams to lose all three top-flight fixtures so far this season, leaving them rock-bottom of the table following a horrendous late collapse in their last game before international football intervened.
Somehow, they contrived to turn a two-goal lead after 86 minutes into a gut-wrenching 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Bournemouth, bringing yet more despair to the long-suffering Goodison Park faithful.
Stretching back to last season, Everton have lost their last four Premier League matches; not since 2005 have they lost five in a row, and they will now be desperate to quickly kick-start their season.
With the controversial John Textor takeover saga still bubbling away in the background, the familiar 'crisis club' tag has resurfaced, so Dyche is aiming to steer his side into calmer waters this weekend.
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Team News
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It remains to be seen what approach Unai Emery takes to team selection, given Aston Villa's Champions League debut takes place on Tuesday, so some squad rotation cannot be ruled out following an intense spell of international action.
While his options could be boosted by the returns of Jaden Philogene and Diego Carlos, both Leon Bailey and Matty Cash are sidelined, while Tyrone Mings is short of match fitness despite taking part in training alongside another long-term absentee, Boubacar Kamara.
If Ollie Watkins - who missed out on England duty with an injury - is rested, Jhon Duran stands ready to make a rare start up front: the Colombia international boasts a 96 minutes-per-goal strike rate in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Everton can welcome loan signing Orel Mangala into their squad this weekend, but fellow loanee Armando Broja will be unavailable for another few weeks.
Club captain Seamus Coleman picked up an injury while playing for the Republic of Ireland and is a doubt for Saturday's game; two more defenders, Jarrad Branthwaite (groin) and Nathan Patterson (hamstring), are unlikely to return just yet.
Incidentally, an ex-Villa midfield pair could start for the Toffees, with Idrissa Gueye and Tim Iroegbunam potentially being pitched into an engine-room battle with former Everton duo Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Nedeljkovic, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Barkley; McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers; Watkins
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Iroegbunam; Harrison, McNeil, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin
We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Everton
English football's most-played fixture will quite likely go Aston Villa's way once again, as Everton have been worryingly shaky at the back and can be vulnerable to pace.
Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and co can open up the visitors' defence and post Villa's third league win from four, before embarking on an exciting European campaign.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
