Aston Villa have suffered blow after blow in the last month & the last thing they need is to come up against a strong & in form Everton side so this is all set up to be a really intense & competitive match.
Heavy blows of defeats in the Carling Cup Final, F.A. Cup Semi Final & with 4th place slipping away from their grasp, it has been really tough for Aston Villa & they now look like a tired & drained side so this is going to be really tough for them.
The defeat against Chelsea in the Cup Semi Final was another heavy blow & confidence within the Aston Villa side must be draining away just like their physical energy levels have done in recent games but they have to bounce back against Everton here in front of their own fans.
With 4th place seemingly gone & most probably 5th & 6th out of their reach, 7th place is what Aston Villa have to look to secure & Everton are their only dangers for that so that adds an extra competitive edge to this match.
The gap between Aston Villa & Everton is 4 points & Aston Villa have a game in hand but a win here for Everton will take the gap to 1 point and pile more pressure on Aston Villa for the remainder of the season.
Aston Villa have got the talent to compete with teams & certainly gave Chelsea a very good game in the first half but their major weakness is that their game is based on high energy, direct play with long balls down the channels & they do quite obviously tire as a unit which then makes them vulnerable in the latter part of their matches.
David Moyes wants & is indeed demanding that Everton finish the season as strongly as possible & he will want his players to respond positively to the disappointment of only drawing with West Ham in the last game when they really should have won.
That performance against West Ham lacked quality & tempo and we certainly expect David Moyes to have the Everton players fully pumped up for this & determined to go to Aston Villa to get a result & indeed the win will be on their minds.
Everton have beaten the likes of Chelsea, Man United & Man City in recent months and will certainly believe that with the likes of Saha, Cahill, Arteta & Yakubu they can go to Aston Villa, physically compete with them & more them match them for quality so this really does look set to be a really tough battle & hard to call.
The other motivation for David Moyes is that he will want to start to put right what is a pathetic record for Everton at Aston Villa, & while many will see that as the potential key to this match in favour of Aston Villa, we feel David Moyes will use that to make the Everton players compete for absolutely everything.
This is fascinating game in prospect as Martin O’Neill will want Aston Villa to respond & put on a show for the home fans & David Moyes always wants to win so it’s a tight call & a scoring draw is very tempting but we are going to take a value punt on Everton getting another big away win here with Cahill, Arteta & Saha to show their quality.
Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: Everton to win
Correct Score options: Everton to win 2-0/2-1
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Cahill/Saha/Arteta
Scorecast options: Cahill/Saha/Arteta score 1st & Everton 2-0/2-1
Double Result: Everton H/T & F/T