Everton will welcome Aston Villa to Hill Dickinson Stadium for the second Premier League fixture staged at their new home on Saturday afternoon.
The Toffees are high in confidence after two eye-catching wins before the international break, but for Unai Emery’s Villa, it has been a nightmare start to this point.
Match preview
After taking just one point in the month of August across their last three seasons combined, Everton are in the lofty heights of fifth, with six points, after back-to-back wins before the international break.
David Moyes’s men beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 in the first competitive fixture here at their new home, and followed it up with a rare win away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, averting a late scare to win 3-2.
Jack Grealish was the star of the show with another brace of assists, after also managing that feat against Brighton, and he will seek to continue that against his boyhood club this weekend.
Only two clubs have ever won their first two Premier League matches when moving to a new home, but with five wins in their last six league outings, Everton will feel they can add to that list.
That is as many wins as Everton managed in the 21 games prior, and no club in the division has taken more points than them since May (16).
The victory at Molineux was also Everton’s ninth of 2025, already eclipsing the total number of wins the team managed in the whole of 2024 (eight), and the last time they won back-to-back games after losing on the opening weekend, they qualified for the Champions League in 2004-05.
Villa are certainly a bogey team for the Toffees though, because Everton have not won any of the 12 meetings since the visitors returned to the top flight in 2019, losing nine.
Everton have not even scored a goal in their last four home encounters with Villa, and only once before in their entire history have they endured a worse such run - against the Liverpool team of the mid-1970s.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery on August 16, 2025
Villa’s four clean sheets in that time is the longest run of away clean sheets against a single opponent in their history, but they hit a new low in a difficult start last time out, losing 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
That was their heaviest home defeat for 18 months, and they remain the only team in the Premier League yet to score a goal, with Wolves the only team below them in the standings.
Not since their season in the Championship in 2017-18 have Villa failed to win any of their first three league games of a campaign, and not even scoring a goal is more of a shock, as that has only happened once before in their history - in 1997-98.
Emery’s mission will now be to prevent Villa from becoming just the fifth club in Premier League history to draw four successive blanks to begin a campaign, and they need to play themselves into form quickly, with cup and European adventures starting later this month.
Everton Premier League form:
Everton form (all competitions):
Aston Villa Premier League form:
Team News
Jack Grealish of Everton during his side's game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, on August 30, 2025
Everton supporters will be excited to witness Grealish in a blue shirt again, and he could become the first player in Premier League history to assist two goals in three straight matches if he achieves that feat again here.
Beto got the ball rolling at Molineux with the opener, and only four players have scored more PL goals than him since Moyes arrived at the club (eight in 21 appearances), but his place in the side is still not secure, with Thierno Barry waiting in the wings.
Vitaliy Mykolenko missed Ukraine duty last week, and is expected to miss out with Jarrad Branthwaite, while full-back pairing Adam Aznou and Nathan Patterson are both doubtful, but new midfielder Merlin Rohl could be in line for a debut after his deadline day move.
Former Everton duo Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley are doubtful for this clash, with the former struggling with a hamstring issue, and the latter lacking match fitness.
A quad injury also means Matty Cash is a doubt, and this fixture may also come too soon for Boubacar Kamara, while Andres Garcia is a certain absentee.
Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott could make his Villa debut across the city from his parent club here, while Jadon Sancho will also be pushing for a start after arriving from Manchester United on deadline day.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Garner; Gueye, Iroegbunam; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish; Barry
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Konsa, Pau Torres, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans, Elliott; Malen, Watkins, Rogers
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We say: Everton 1-1 Aston Villa
Everton are the team in form at present, but Villa have got something over them, shown by the fact the hosts have won none of the previous 12 meetings.
Villa have too much quality in their ranks for their dismal run to continue much longer, and even though this will be a tough match to win, you fancy them to get off the mark in front of goal.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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