Aston Villa - Everton
12.04 15:00
A little over one month ago, Aston Villa was one of the main candidates to end the season at the 4th spot that enables them to play in CL next season. They were 6 points clear from Arsenal and seemed pretty comfortable at that spot. Now that seems to be far in the past, Arsenal is back in form while Villa ran out of fuel in the worst moment possible. Villa haven’t won their last 6 league matches, conceding 15 goals during that period and now barely hold the 5th spot that takes them to UEFA Cup. O’Neill could use this match as a chance to get back to the race for CL in front of their fans. A possible win would give them a bigger advantage over the rest of the teams that are chasing that 5th spot, and could be the turning point for the remainder of this season. A potential loss would mean one sad end of this season so there is a solid amount pressure that can be felt at Villa Park. Aston Villa also have a few squad problems before this important match since their centre back Cuellar and striker Agbonlahor are under question mark for this match. Emile Heskey is still out injured, while Laursen and Bouma are also not ready to play.
A lot of motives to play good
Everton is at the 6th spot in the standings since Christmas but they do have a lot of motives to get good results till the end of this season. Thanks to their good results, Everton decreased Villa’s advantage in the standings, and they’re remaining in the race to catch the fourth-placed Arsenal. There is also the FA Cup, where Everton ensured the semifinals and will be facing Manchester United for the finals. After a bit worse start to the campaign, manager’s Moyes’ team has found the right form in the best moment. As far as the Premier league is concerned, with a win in this match they would surpass Villa on the table and increase their chances of repeating the impressive run they had towards the end of the last season. They’re almost guaranteed to end within top 6 teams since they’re ahead of West Ham by 7 points and that will considerably decrease the amount of pressure until the end of the season. Everton is always a difficult opponent to play against, so Villa will have to be very careful, just like MU that will face them next weekend in the FA Cup semis. Everton don’t have too many injury concerns, goalie Howard is recovered, meaning only Arteta and Yakubu will be out for this match.
Playing to outscore the opponent
Aston Villa’s downfall has been lasting for quite some time and if they don’t do something positive in this match, all the great effort they put in the first part of the season will be in vain. Everton have done an impressive turnaround in their season and are now in a very good spot. If we take a look at current form, Everton should be the fav in this match, but Aston Villa desperately want to record one positive result. Both teams are very good at finding the way to the opponent’s goal so it’s very probable we’ll be seeing a goal-feast in this clash.
Tip: Over 2.5 goals, Odds 2.2
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