Everton’s difficult winter continues with a tough trip to Aston Villa – a similar-sized team who, unlike the Toffees, have shown what can be done with sizeable but well-placed investment.
Injuries, fatigue,
suspensions, loss of form and international duty have caught up with the Toffees, who have now won just once in seven games in all competitions.
Last weekend’s FA Cup defeat against Sunderland was particularly grim. The Black Cats did not need to be anything more than solid against a patched-up Everton team and deserved to win over 90 minutes. A stroke of luck with a soft penalty offered the Blues a lifeline they did not take, ending hopes of a trophy for yet another season.
Drab performances and results have only amplified other frustrations, including the stadium atmosphere, Moyes’ tactics and lack of activity in the transfer market. Those concerns are all legitimate, but they will feel more manageable if results start to improve.
Sadly, the long list of absentees is unlikely to reduce before Sunday’s game, meaning David Moyes will have to cobble together an XI that can somehow take on a team absolutely flying at the other end of the table.
The home match against Leeds eight days later, by which time Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye will definitely be back, with others potentially in contention, feels like the reset moment to jump-start a flagging season into life.
The opposition
It is nearly exactly 10 years since Everton last beat Aston Villa in the league – a 3-1 victory at Villa Park in February 2016.
Villa were bottom and sinking like a stone, Everton had just been taken over by Farhad Moshiri and were dreaming of the Champions League. If you had asked which club would have achieved that dream by 2025, I doubt many would have said Villa. But here we are.
Unai Emery’s side go into the game in third, seven points behind leaders Arsenal (though that could change after the Gunners’ match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday night).
The stats make grim reading for Evertonians.
Villa have not lost against Everton in 13 games since being promoted back to the Premier League in 2019, have won each of the last four meetings at Villa Park and have kept a clean sheet in eight of the last 10 meetings. The last of those was a goalless draw at Hill Dickinson Stadium in September, where Everton were unlucky not to take all three points against a Villa side that began the season badly, failing to win or even score in their opening four matches.
Oh, and did I mention this is the most played league fixture in English football? 216 and counting…
Previous meeting
Everton 0–0 Aston Villa, 13 September 2025
Everton had the better of a largely dour encounter but failed to make their dominance count through a combination of poor finishing, poor fortune and great goalkeeping. Sound familiar?
Team news
Jack Grealish is back to face his boyhood club after serving a one-game ban, but he is the only new face set to return.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Charly Alcaraz and Tim Iroegbunam are still injured. Jarrad Branthwaite and Seamus Coleman are back in light training but not ready to return, while Michael Keane serves the second game of his three-match ban.
Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are preparing for Senegal’s AFCON final against Morocco on Sunday.
Final word
Everything, and I mean everything, points towards a home win in this one, despite Everton’s decent record on the road.
Football always has the capacity to surprise, but I don’t think we will see it here.
