View: Predicted Aston Villa XI for Premier League clash v Everton
Aston Villa will be looking to avoid a fourth defeat on the spin as Unai Emery’s side travel to relegation-threatened Everton on Saturday afternoon.
The Toffees are currently 16th and have won two of their three games under Sean Dyche, with both their victories coming at Goodison Park.
Despite three defeats in a row, the Villans were impressive against league leaders Arsenal and could well have left Villa Park with at least a point to their name on Saturday afternoon.
We don’t anticipate Emery to make wholesale changes to his starting lineup, having shuffled the pack in the defeat to the Gunners.
Emi Martinez was, once again, the centre of much discussion after the Arsenal defeat. The Argentine controversially came forward for a corner in the latter stages of the fixture which ultimately ended up in the Villans conceding a fourth goal.
Despite his latest antics, we anticipate the 30-year-old to retain his place in the starting eleven. We also expect Emery to name an unchanged backline after Alex Moreno, Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash started against the Gunners. Ezri Konsa will also start alongside Mings.
Villa’s midfield duo of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara has been a constant of Emery’s rein and both will almost certainly start against the Toffees. Jacob Ramsey was introduced for Philippe Coutinho against Arsenal and the 21-year-old could be given a start. John McGinn returned in Villa’s last fixture and should keep his place in an advanced role.
Ollie Watkins will likely start up front after impressing of late and could be joined by Jhon Duran who has featured off the bench in the Villans’ previous contests.
In other Aston Villa news, the club want to reunite with a former player for a fee in excess of £40million in the summer.