Match Preview
Everton go into their first game since their nine-minute nightmare at the end of their match against Bournemouth before the international break, hoping to make immediate amends in Saturday’s televised clash with Aston Villa.
Sean Dyche’s team somehow let a 2-0 lead slip by conceding twice in stoppage time and lost 3-2 before heading into a two-week hiatus from Premier League action with plenty of time to ruminate on what went wrong and how to fix it.
The manager was asked during his pre-match press conference how he explains an implosion like the one his team suffered in that match and how he and his staff go about picking the players up after such a psychological setback.
“I’d like to think after [my] 20 months here, the players would have learned to deal with those situations,” Dyche replied. “Obviously, we didn’t on the day; we didn’t do the things that were necessary to see the game through and we’ve got to continually learn from that.
“You know, the game’s never over. I’ve been asked many times about not celebrating goals, and that’s why — the game’s never over. Until the game’s finished., then you can have a quiet celebration in my case, but that’s why I don’t go running up and down the pitch and that sort of stuff because the game [can] change.
“Against Bournemouth was a good example of that when the game should be dead, we know that. [A] very strong performance for 87-ish minutes and then we all saw what went on next.
“That was a really hard one to take and it happens from time to time. Fortunately not very often but it did happen, so how we deal with that and we talk to the players [is important] but most of them are mature enough to see if through and we just didn’t do that.”
Seamus Coleman has been described by Dyche as “touch and go” for this one after sustaining a knock on international duty with Ireland last weekend.
The Club captain had to be withdrawn from the Nations League match against England after taking a kick to the ankle from Harry Maguire but he has a small chance of being involved at Villa Park.
Dyche said that he will be assessed during the team’s training session on Friday morning before any decision is made but the manager reiterated that Nathan Patterson and Jarrad Branthwaite remain a way from match fitness after recovering from their respective hamstring and hernia surgeries.
Both players have returned to training with the first-team in the hope that they can either figure in the Carabao Cup tie against Southampton next Tuesday or against Leicester the following Saturday.
Meanwhile, Orel Mangala is poised for this first involvement as an Everton player after arriving from Lyon on loan on transfer deadline day.
The Belgian went straight to join up with his Red Devils team-mates for their international fixtures over the break but arrived at Finch Farm “bright and breezy and wants to be part of the group”, in Dyche’s words and he is expected to be in the squad for the trip to Villa Park.
The former Nottingham Forest midfielder will wear the No.8 shirt vacated by Amadou Onana who joined the Villans over the summer in a £50m deal and if Mangala is handed his debut, the two compatriots could face off in midfield this weekend.
Onana, who made his own debut off the bench for Everton in this fixture two years ago, has made a strong start to life in the Midlands with two goals in his first three Premier League games but the Blues will be hoping for a repeat of their performance in the EFL Cup on this ground last season as opposed to the 4-0 drubbing they suffered against Unai Emery’s men 13 months ago.
Everton ended Villa’s long unbroken sequence of home wins by defeating them handsomely in the third round tie, with James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin on target in a 2-1 victory.
Coleman’s likely absence this weekend leaves a problem once again at right back where Ashley Young is Dyche’s preferred option when fit again, even if James Garner might be better suited due to his comparative youth and versatility. It’s almost inconceivable that the conservative Dyche would consider young Roman Dixon, despite his strong debut against Tottenham last month.
Assuming the manager doesn’t opt for a back five, the central-defensive pairing is likely to be unchanged with Branthwaite still out. Michael Keane has been preferred to Jake O’Brien and almost certainly will again given the fact that the latter has yet to play a single Premier League minute for the club since arriving from Lyon.
The game will see other reunions, with Tim Iroegbunam returning to his old stomping ground and Lucas Digne going up against his former club once more. And, regrettably, this match will also reunite the referee/VAR double-act of Craig Pawson and David Coote who oversaw the hugely controversial Anfield derby last season.
Iliman Ndiaye is surely a shoo-in after his revelatory display against Bournemouth and will likely be deployed in the same front attacking as against the Cherries with Jack Harrison and Dwight McNeil.
Villa come into the game having won two of their opening three fixtures, with their only defeat coming to title-chasing Arsenal at the Emirates. They will be strong favorites based on their excellent 2023–24 season and Everton’s horrific start to the current campaign.
However, they no longer boast the awesome home record that they did when the two teams last met at Villa Park — they have only won a third of their last dozen home fixtures and have the added distraction of their first Champions League match looming on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, they have attacking talent in abundance even with Leon Bailey almost certain to miss out. The Jamaican winger, who scored this game last season, has a hamstring injury and will be sidelined but Emery is hopeful that summer Everton transfer target Jaden Philogene could replace him if he is passed fit.
Matty Cash and Diego Carlos are also ruled out along with longer-term absentees Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings but there had been no news about Ollie Watkins, who came back early from England duty with an unspecified issue, until Friday morning.
The striker netted a penalty in a 2-0 Villa win at Goodison Park in February last year and, as such, wouldn’t be missed by Dyche and company this weekend but Emery has confirmed he is available.
First and foremost, the Blues fans who will be travelling down en masse to Birmingham will want to see a response in terms of the performance from Dyche’s men. A positive result of any kind would be warmly received but avoiding the kind of hiding the Toffees suffered here last season is a must.
Kick-off: 5:30 pm, Saturday 14 September 2024
Referee: Craig Pawson
VAR: David Coote
Last Time: Aston Villa 4 – 0 Everton
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Young, Keane, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Gueye, Iroegbunam, Harrison, McNeil, Ndiaye, Calvert-Lewin