It’s been an impressive start to the season for unbeaten Everton, who face an Aston Villa team that lost 3-0 to Chelsea last time out.
Can Everton continue their hunt for the Champions League spots? Check out our Aston Villa vs. Everton tips and predictions.
Aston Villa vs Everton game info
• Location: Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
• Date: Saturday, September 18, 2021
• Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
• TV: Peacock Premium, Hulu+
Aston Villa vs Everton betting tips
- Draw (+230)
- Both Teams to Score (-134)
Read on for complete analysis
Aston Villa vs Everton match odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Compare EPL odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Aston Villa vs Everton betting preview
Weather
Birmingham will be seeing temperatures around 66 degrees Fahrenheit with likely rain and 68 percent humidity.
Injuries
Aston Villa: Trezeguet LW (Out), Keinan Davis CF (Out)
Everton: Cenk tosun CF (Out), James Rodriguez MF (Out)
Aston Villa vs Everton predictions
Side pick
Aston Villa welcome Everton to town with both teams in different stages of a rebuild. For Aston Villa, they’re rebuilding following the loss of Jack Grealish to Manchester City, with Everton under the new management of former Liverpool and Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez.
Benitez is known as a smart coach who sets his teams out to be rigid at the back and not concede. The style of play that he instills into his teams isn’t always the most attractive, but he always manages to help them improve and perform better than the previous management. He’s still loved by fans of his former clubs, which says a lot about the man and the success that he can bring.
One of Rafa’s great abilities is helping improve players, many of whom hadn’t been great elsewhere. This summer, Everton signed Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray, both seen as poor signings who wouldn’t improve the team. But both scored and played well in last week’s 3-1 win over Burnley, suggesting that he can get the best from his players.
Everton, going into this Premier League gameweek, sit fourth in the league, and thus, in a Champions League spot. That’ll be hard to maintain for the whole season, but they have the ability to exceed expectations this year.
The hosts, Aston Villa, are still learning how to play without Jack Grealish. Their former talisman was starring for new club Man City in the Champions League this week, and it’s clear that they still miss him. It always takes time for new signings to fit into a team but given the quality of Aston Villa’s recruitment over the past two or three years, you’d expect it to be a success eventually.
The league table tells us that Everton should be winning this game, but I’m backing the draw in Saturday’s late Premier League game. Aston Villa are unbeaten at home this season, winning their first home game 2-0 against Newcastle and drawing 1-1 with Brentford at the end of August. With Villa Park packed with fans and the atmosphere rocking, it’ll be a tough place for any team to visit.
Everton have the quality to win this game, but Benítez will be primarily concerned with not losing and a draw ultimately suits both teams. With the likes of Richarlison up front, there’s every chance that they could score, they’re actually tied for the league’s top goal-scorers entering this weekend. That might not be enough for three points here though, with Villa notching at least one goal in both home games so far.
So, it’s smart to back the draw, especially when that’s been the result in two of the last three meetings between the teams.
PICK: Draw (+230)
Both teams to score pick
As mentioned above, there’s a very real chance that both teams get on the scoresheet here and odds of -134 look very good considering the trends.
Aston Villa may not be playing at the level we saw last year, but they’ve still scored five goals in four Premier League games, only going scoreless in their last match, which was against Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea have the best defensive record in the league, having conceded only one goal all season, so a shutout at Stamford Bridge is to be expected.
Aston Villa’s goals this season have been split throughout the team, but we’re yet to see Ollie Watkins on the scoresheet, something he’ll be looking to make amends for in this game.
Everton, meanwhile, have scored 10 goals so far this season, scoring at least two goals in every single game. They may be missing their star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but Demarai Gray has been a revelation since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen, scoring 3 goals in his 4 appearances so far, and Richarlison will be looking to add to his goal tally too.
We’re already backing the draw in this game and both teams to score, so you could potentially even bet the game finishing as a score draw at odds of +333. At the very least, you should be backing both teams to score here, so grab that -134 while you can.
PICK: Both teams to score (-134)
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