After making it three wins in three games going into the international break, Everton are back at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium digs on Saturday against Aston Villa.
David Moyes for one will be casting a critical eye to ensure some of the mistakes that led to goals conceded at Wolves have been addressed, while looking to keep the attack ticking over with plenty of guile and talent available at hand.
Opponents Aston Villa are not having a good go of things right now. After a season where their maiden
Champions League campaign ended narrowly at the hands of eventual winners Paris St Germain in the quarterfinals, an FA Cup semifinal loss against eventual winners Crystal Palace and then hobbled to a sixth-placed finish to put Unai Emery back in Europe.. in the Europa League, of course.
This season though the team have looked stale and uninspired. They are yet to score in three league games despite being laden with talent starting with Ollie Watkins up top, and have just the one point to show for it. No one expects them to stay here, surely they will start a fightback sooner than later?
Who’s Out?
Iliman Ndiaye appears to have picked up a knock on international duty, though he did appear to be dancing quite emphatically after the game. Jarrad Branthwaite could still be and despite the protestations of the Ukraine national team, Vitaliy Mykolenko seems to be moving around quite freely.
Everton squad available vs Villa
Goalkeepers: Pickford, Travers, King
Defenders: Keane, Branthwaite (DOUBT), Tarkowski, O’Brien, Mykolenko, Coleman, Patterson (DOUBT), Aznou
Midfielders: Gueye, Garner, Iroegbunam, Dewsbury-Hall, Röhl
Wingers: McNeil, Ndiaye (DOUBT), Grealish, Dibling, Alcaraz
Attackers: Beto, Barry
Tactics and Formation
Everton will likely stick to the 4-2-3-1 they’ve used so far.
Starters (likelihood of starting rated out of 10)
Jordan Pickford – 9/10
Vitaliy Mykolenko – 6/10
Michael Keane – 8/10 Keane hasn’t put a foot wrong yet and should continue.
James Tarkowski – 8/10 He’s made some awful mistakes that he has to get over.
Jake O’Brien – 6/10 The Irishman stays on the pitch, despite an indifferent start for him.
Idrissa Gueye – 8/10
James Garner – 8/10 Quietly plugging away wherever the gaffer has asked him to play.
Jack Grealish – 8/10 Chasing a truly unique record
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – 7/10 His partnership and friendship with Grealish is a thing to behold
Iliman Ndiaye – 6/10 Continued his incredible form to start Everton’s season with Senegal, but might be injured.
Beto – 7/10 They’ve been alternating starts, but Beto has scored the all-important goals and it’s his turn to start anyway.
Bench
Mark Travers
Jarrad Branthwaite – The hard road back starts at the bench.
Adam Aznou
Seamus Coleman
Tim Iroegbunam
Merlin Röhl – Reports have it that he’s acing it in training, will het get some minutes tomorrow?
Tyler Dibling – Should start if Ndiaye can’t go
Charly Alcaraz
Thierno Barry
(Dwight McNeil slips right out of the squad, for the very first time. Read this.)
