Everton will travel to Villa Park to take on newly-promoted side Aston Villa in their third game of the season. The Toffees are the only team who are yet to concede in the Premier League, and they will be looking to build on their decent start.
Villa, on the other hand, have faced some harsh realities of the Premier League as they lost their opening two encounters even though they did well in those games for most parts. Everton aren’t going to be easy either as Marco Silva has shaped the Merseyside club into a compact side. In all fairness, Smith could be staring at zero points after three games.
Everton have a strong record against the Villans anyway as the Merseyside club have only lost just twice in the last 15 Premier League encounters, and they would hope to continue with their good record this weekend as well.
Team News: Morgan Schneiderlin will be available after facing a one-game suspension. Lucas Digne is a bit of a concern for the Toffees, but we expect him to be ready as his departure in the last tie looked more like a precautionary measure. In fact, the left-back has even trained today. Leighton Baines will fill in if Digne does indeed miss out.
Everton Predicted Lineup Vs Aston Villa
Formation (4-2-3-1)
Defence
Jordan Pickford will continue in goal, and he will look to extend his run of cleansheets. Yerry Mina is a nailed-on starter at the back. English defender Michael Keane should partner him. We are expecting Digne to be fit for this tie so he should start at left-back.
If that isn’t the case, then Leighton Baines might start in that position. Seamus Coleman is expected to start as the right-sided fullback.
Midfield
Schneiderlin should come back to the lineup after serving his suspension. Andre Gomes has established himself in the first team, and he is likely to start in central areas.
Further upfront, Gylfi Sigurdsson will be in an attacking midfield role. He has been quiet so far, but he can produce those game-changing moments in the final third. Bernard scored his first for the season against Watford, and he should keep his place on the left. New signing Alex Iwobi might have to wait some more time for a start as Richarlison is going to be the likely pick to start on the right.
Attack
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has started up front so far, but we think that this could be a good game to give Moise Kean his first start of the season.
