Aston Villa continue their Premier League title-challenge against Everton at Villa Park.
Victory or a draw would see Villa move up to second, whilst Everton can climb to tenth with a win.
Team News
Boubacar Kamara is ruled out for Villa with a knee injury suffered in their FA Cup Third-Round victory at Tottenham.
Emiliano Martinez (knock) and Evann Guessand (international duty) are set to return but Amadou Onana (hamstring) and Ross Barkley (knee) remain absent.
Everton will be again without midfielder, Tim Iroegbunam after he missed their FA Cup Third-Round exit against Sunderland, due to a groin injury.
Carlos Alcaraz (unspecified), Jack Grealish, Michael Keane (both suspension), Idrissa Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye (both international duty), Seamus Coleman, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jarrad Branthwaite (all hamstring) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Everton at Villa Park on Sunday 17 January at 4:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa are unbeaten in their last 13 league meetings against Everton (W9, D4).
- Everton are winless in their last six league visits to Villa (D1, L5).
- Three of Everton’s four draws in their last 13 league meetings against Villa ended in 0-0 results.
- No Villa player has been involved in more league goals this season than Morgan Rogers, who has 11 total goal involvements; consisting of seven goals and four assists.
- Everton have kept clean sheets in four of their last five away matches (W3, D1, L1).
Prediction
From a dominant high-energy attacking first half to a more defensively gutsy second-half at Tottenham, Villa certainly showcased their quality to grind out that win and now have a huge opportunity to reignite their title challenge after Arsenal and Manchester City’s slip-ups.
Everton meanwhile were simply outplayed in their FA Cup home tie against Sunderland in terms of attack but they did well to grind out a draw amidst resilient defensive play, before an atrocious performance on penalties left them to now focus on their league campaign if want to qualify for Europe.
David Moyes though will be buoyed by the Toffees’ recent away form but I really don’t see them getting a result here because Villa do look too strong at present.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Everton
Result: Aston Villa 0-1 Everton