Everton v Aston Villa: predicted line-up, team news and match preview

The fourth match of a Premier League season isn’t supposed to feel this important.

Aston Villa haven’t scored a goal yet and even a single point from three matches is a little on the generous side given the performances in question.

Villa have been bad. There’s no two ways about it and no amount of mitigating truths can excuse the turgid fare on offer against Newcastle United, Brentford and Crystal Palace.

Saturday’s game against Everton is Villa’s first at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, the Toffees’ impressive new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock. Manager David Moyes steered them to a win in their home opener and they also have an away win under their belts.

The visitors need to find another gear in double quick time. They need to get Ollie Watkins into the game and give him some chances. They need to cut out the cheap turnovers. They need to take the right risks in the right moments and be a lot more streetwise from the back to the front.

Anyone who watched Villa’s defeat against Palace will know it’s an awful lot to be fixed in one go but the international break couldn’t have been better timed and we can only hope the remedial work has been a success.

Villa team news

There are three new faces in the squad to help tighten up some of the details. The deadline day signings of Victor Lindelöf, Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott add some much needed depth, Premier League quality and potential to the line-up and all three are available to play against Everton on Saturday.

Midfielders Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana both picked up injuries before the international break and look likely to miss out again unless there’s a surprise in Friday’s press conference.

Lindelöf could be in line for an unexpectedly quick debut. Matty Cash sustained a heavy bruise playing for Poland this week and is a doubt, and Andrés García is still injured. If Cash doesn’t make the cut, Villa’s newest defender could be drafted in to allow Ezri Konsa to shift to right-back.

But the biggest question mark is in the goalkeeper position, where the very much unsold Emiliano Martínez is presumed to be in contention to come back in for Marco Bizot despite his wholly unsatisfactory conduct at the end of the transfer window. The assumption is that the dressing room will endorse his return. We will find out very soon.

Villa predicted line-up v Everton

Unai Emery has other decisions to make as well. Villa have underperformed so far this season and their new signings add a second layer to the choices facing the manager for the Everton game.

If the manager’s handling of new signings at Villa tells us anything about this match it’s that he’s unlikely to be dishing out debuts for fun.

Elliott is a fabulous signing, a neat tactical fit and a direct solution to a big problem. He’s a plug-and-play.

Not so Sancho, whose introduction I expect to be more gradual. After Evann Guessand played 45 minutes against Palace, I think he gets the nod ahead of Sancho for now.

Villa’s most recent performance demands some changes but injuries in midfield limit how much tweaking can really be done. Lucas Digne could be the main beneficiary, not least because his set piece abilities aren’t adequately matched by anyone who played against Palace.

Elsewhere in the defence, the only unforced choice is between Tyrone Mings and Pau Torres. I see no reason to pick Torres over Mings at this point and Emery himself seems to be losing faith in his compatriot.

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