* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
Everton are well placed to go on and seal their traditional 7th-placed finish in the Premier League but face a tricky test from Aston Villa on Saturday evening. You can build a new stadium, employ a Champions League winning manager in Carlo Ancelotti and bring in a faded Galatico, but seemingly nothing can lift Everton above the dreaded 7th place.
But, say it quietly, Everton still have a shot at a top four finish. They’re six points behind Chelsea in 4th with a game in hand. They’ll need a superb run and some favours from other teams but if The Toffees can rediscover a bit of their early-season form then who knows. They have the fixture list to potentially go close, though Manchester City on the final day might extinguish any remaining hopes of that.
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For Villa it’s been a season of improvement, building on their 17th-placed finish last term. They’re 11th and are probably still dining out on that 7-2 win over Liverpool but there’s cause for optimism at Villa Park, for sure.
Bizarrely for this stage of the season this is the first time these two have met in the league with the game at Villa Park being Covided back in January. It took them the best part of three months to bother getting round to rearranging it. That doesn’t bode well, but let’s try and work out which way this one’s going to go.
Saturday 8pm: Everton v Aston Villa
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The Draw
It’s hard to pick a winner in this game. Both sides are in poor form with Villa winning just once in their last eight. They have faced Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs recently, though.
For Everton it’s not much better. They’ve won once in their last seven with the 1-0 triumph over Arsenal coming after three losses and three draws with an FA Cup game thrown in that run. They’ve not exactly faced the cream of the crop in that run with Brighton, Crystal Palace and Burnley all getting something from the Toffees over that period.
I don’t trust Villa to win this, Everton are too short to back with any real confidence, despite that win over Arsenal – it was Arsenal after all – and at nice odds it’s worth chancing your arm on a Draw and Everton taking the eternal struggle for 7th right to the wire.
Both Teams To Score
They may be mid-table but least you get a fair amount of entertainment with Villa. They’re certainly unpredictable and recently the goals have been flying in all over the shop.
Both teams have netted in five of their last six games, with only Spurs shutting them out five games ago. Everton are a little less reliable in terms of Both Teams to Score and that has still landed in three of their last five.
Villa have shown they’re more than capable of conceding on a regular basis and Palace and Burnley both breached the Toffees’ backline in recent weeks. In a bit of a minefield, Both Teams To Score feels like a good play.
Ollie Watkins to Score Anytime
In terms of a goal scorer this was naturally a toss up between Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ollie Watkins for Villa. If you’re feeling a little braver then set-piece goal machine Anwar El Ghazi is the way to go.
But I’ll plump for Ollie Watkins to Score Anytime in this one at much better odds than his Toffees counterpart and England team-mate Calvert-Lewin. Watkins can be a bit wasteful at times but he’s bagged 14 times in his debut Premier League season and I’m backing him to improve on that record against a leaky Everton backline on Saturday night.
Bet bets for Everton v Aston Villa
The Draw
Both Teams to Score
Ollie Watkins to Score Anytime
These three selections in a treble will give you odds of around 11/1 with Paddy Power.
* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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