Fixtures
- Everton Vs. Aston Villa – Wed, Jan 15th 2025, 19:30
Aston Villa return to Premier League action on Wednesday evening, travelling to Everton in their first away trip of 2025 (ko 7.30pm).
Unai Emery’s side will visit Goodison Park for the final time in a top-flight fixture, ahead of the hosts’ move to their new stadium next season.
Villa will be looking for a third-straight victory, having opened the New Year with consecutive 2-1 wins at Villa Park over Leicester City and West Ham United.
David Moyes will take to the home dugout at Goodison Park for the first time since returning to the club last week, replacing the outgoing Sean Dyche.
The Toffees are winless in their last five Premier League outings, though do enter the clash on the back of a 2-0 FA Cup win over Peterborough United last Thursday, with Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman in temporary charge.
The recent history between the two clubs falls firmly in favour of the Villans, who are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League outings against Everton, winning eight and drawing three.
Stats
Only Cole Palmer (8) has made more successful through balls in the Premier League this season than Youri Tielemans (7). The Belgian has also made more progressive passes (71) than any other Aston Villa player in the league this term.
Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin has made more targeted off-the-ball runs (224) than any other player in the Premier League this season, with 121 of these being in the final third, also a league-high. However, the forward is without a goal in his last 15 appearances in the competition, only going longer without scoring from November 2023 to March 2024 (18 apps).
Just seven of Everton’s Premier League goals this season have been from open play, the only side to score fewer than 10 open play goals in the competition this term. Indeed, only Ipswich (13.1) have a lower open play expected goals total in the 2024/25 Premier League than Everton (13.2).
Just 10 of Aston Villa’s 32 Premier League points this season have come in away games (31.3%) – only Brentford (18.5%) have won a lower share on the road so far this term than the Villans.
Aston Villa beat Leicester 2-1 in their first Premier League match of 2025 – they’ve not started a calendar year in the top-flight with two consecutive victories since winning their first three in 2009.
Everton have failed to score in eight of their last 10 Premier League games. In this time, they have three goals (excluding own goals) from 119 shots and an expected goals total of 8.8.
Aston Villa have lost each of their last five Premier League away games, conceding at least twice in each defeat. It’s their longest losing run on the road within a single season in the competition since losing their final seven such games of 2015/16.
Only Southampton have won fewer games (1) and scored fewer goals (12) than Everton in the Premier League this season (3 wins, 15 goals). However, having lost their first four in the competition this term, the Toffees have since lost just four of their last 15 (W3 D8).
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last five Premier League away games against Everton (W3 D2), keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three. They’ve never gone four away without conceding against the Toffees in their league history.
Everton are winless in their last 11 Premier League games against Aston Villa (D3 L8), having won six of their previous eight against them before this (D1 L1).
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between the two sides was a thriller at Villa Park in September, in which the Villans came from 2-0 down to secure a dramatic 3-2 win over the Toffees.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin sent Everton into a two-goal lead, which was cut in half shortly before the break thanks to Ollie Watkins.
Villa’s No.11 added his second of the game just before the hour mark to restore parity, before super sub Jhon Durán climbed off the bench to unleash an unstopable long-range drive and put the hosts ahead.
Durán’s left-footed piledriver was named Villa’s September Goal of the Month and sent the B6 faithful into raptures, completing an incredible comeback from Unai Emery’s side to secure a third victory in their first four games of the season.
Team News
Jhon Durán is available once again for the Villans, having served his three-match suspension, and Emi Martínez should return between the sticks having sat out of Villa’s FA Cup win over West Ham.
Ross Barkley will miss the clash, having been withdrawn early on Friday night with injury, while Pau Torres, John McGinn and Diego Carlos all remain out.
David Moyes is hopeful Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be fit to return from an ankle injury that kept him out of FA Cup action, though Dwight McNeil remains out with a knee injury.
Armando Broja is ruled out for the Toffees, the striker set for a scan after being withdrawn against Peterborough, with James Garner (back), former Villan Tim Iroegbunam (foot) and Youssef Chermiti (thigh) still unavailable.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“It’s difficult, because it’s Everton with a new coach, and of course I think they are going to be – the crowd and the players – very motivated, excited as well, with [David] Moyes, because before he was a very successful coach there with them.” – Unai Emery
“We’ve got to leave Goodison in the right way. We’re under the lights this week against Aston Villa so it would be a great opportunity for all the Evertonians to show how much it matters.” – David Moyes
