Marco Silva’s Toffees arrive at Villa Park with the aim of breaking a club record that has stood for more than 100 years
Aston Villa host Everton in the Premier League’s Friday match, with Dean Smith’s side chasing their first points of the season at Villa Park.
The Birmingham club suffered a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham on the opening day of the season and then slipped to a 2-1 reverse against Bournemouth last week, rendering them one of four sides to have lost their opening two matches.
Everton, meanwhile, have kicked off in positive style, securing four points from two games in which they have not conceded a single goal.
| Game | Aston Villa vs Everton |
| Date | Friday, August 23 |
| Time | 8:00pm BST / 3:00pm ET |
| Stream (US) | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) .
New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| NBCSN | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the UK, the match will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, and available to stream on Sky Go.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Premier League | Sky Go |
| Position | Aston Villa squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Heaton, Steer, Nyland, Kalinic |
| Defenders | Taylor, Konsa, Targett, Engels, Guilbert, Elmohamady, Hause, Mings |
| Midfielders | Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Lansbury, Grealish, Nakamba, Hourihane, Trezeguet, El Ghazi, Jota, O’Hare, Ramsey, Tshibola |
| Forwards | Wesley, Davis |
James Chester continues to miss out for Aston Villa, but the hosts can welcome back Kortney Hause to their squad.
Jonathan Kodjia is absent in attack, but it has been at the other end of the park that the Villans have struggled.
Possible Aston Villa starting XI: Heaton; Elmohamady, Engels, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Hourihane, Grealish; Trezeguet, Moraes, El Ghazi
| Position | Everton squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Pickford, Stekelenburg, Lossl |
| Defenders | Bains, Keane, Digne, Mina, Coleman, Holgate, Martina, Sidibe |
| Midfielders | Sigurdsson, Schneiderlin, Davies, Andre Gomes, Mirallas, Delph, Gbamin |
| Forwards | Bernard, Walcott, Tosun, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Niasse, Kean, Iwobi, Bolasie |
Summer signing Fabian Delph is still absent for Everton, though the Toffees were boosted this week by the news that Lucas Digne is fine, despite limping off last weekend.
Leighton Baines is in contention to feature, while Moise Kean could make his first start. Fellow summer signings Djibril Sidibe and Alex Iwobi should also be in the squad.
Possible Everton starting XI: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne; Gbamin, Gomes; Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Bernard; Kean
Aston Villa are 9/4 underdogs with bet365. Everton can be supported at 23/20, while a draw is on offer at 5/2.
Click here to see all of bet365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
Aston Villa will aim to get their Premier League campaign up and running on Friday against Everton, with the hosts seeking to get off the mark after a couple of setbacks.
Tottenham proved too strong for Dean Smith’s side on the opening day of the season, despite John McGinn putting the Birmingham side into the lead, while they disappointed in a 2-1 loss to Bournemouth last weekend in which Douglas Luiz’s cracking 71st-minute strike proved a mere consolation.
Smith claimed after the loss to the Cherries that his side were “taught a harsh lesson” and he will hope that over the course of the week his squad have learned from it.
The former Brentford boss has been forced to adopt a positive mantra early in the season, notably to defend striker Wesley, who has come in for criticism after only two matches, but he admits that Friday’s fixture will be a difficult affair.
“It’ll be a very tough game,” he told the media on Thursday. “They were a top 10 club last season.
“Their defensive organisation is good, they’re tough to breach and they are very well coached. But they have also not scored a lot of goals – they’ve only got one this season.
“The bookies have made them favourites to win at Villa Park. I am sure our players will have something to say about that.”
Indeed, the Merseysiders have yet to concede a goal in competitive football this season, with six cleansheets in succession when friendlies are considered.
They might have netted only two of their own during that period but their rock-solid rearguard, which is behind only Manchester City and Liverpool since the beginning of 2019 in terms of goals conceded, is set to underpin their efforts to break into the top six come the end of the season.
“The numbers are fantastic, not just in the past two games but also how we finished last season,” manager Marco Silva said when asked to consider the prospect of the Toffees opening up with three shut outs for the first time in 107 years.
“We have to keep working really hard. When you can win with a clean sheet, it is fantastic as a coach. Even if we have an attacking philosophy and like to play offensive football.”
The last time the clubs met was at Villa Park in March 2016, with the Merseysiders running out 3-1 victors. A similar outcome would break their run of cleansheets, but it is an outcome Silva would surely accept.
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