We head to Villa Park once more for the Saturday evening kick-off in the Premier League this weekend as Aston Villa take on Everton in the West Midlands.

The start of Villa’s much-anticipated Champions League campaign is right around the corner, but Unai Emery’s side must first navigate a trip to Switzerland to face Young Boys before they can start thinking about duels with Bayern Munich and Juventus.

The Villans travel to Bern off the back of Saturday’s domestic fixture, in which they’re taking on an already desperate Everton team. After suffering two batterings at the hands of Brighton and Tottenham, the Toffees looked on course to secure their first league win of the season against Bournemouth before the international break. However, Sean Dyche’s side contrived to surrender a 2-0 lead in the dying embers of the contest, eventually losing 3-2 at the last.

Villa, meanwhile, are searching for their first win at Villa Park this season after they were beaten on home soil by Arsenal on Matchday 2. Emery’s men have won their first two games on the road.

Here’s 90min’s preview of Saturday evening’s Premier League fixture.

Aston Villa vs Everton H2H Record (Last Five Games)

Current form (all competitions)

The Villans have a few injury concerns for this clash and the start of their Champions League campaign.

Diego Carlos and Leon Bailey are new additions to the injury list, with the latter not set to return until next month with a hamstring injury. Carlos will be back in contention soon having sustained a muscle injury.

Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are long-term absentees, while the returning Jaden Philogene is a doubt for Saturday’s game after picking up a knock. Robin Olsen and Matty Cash remain sidelined for the hosts, but Ezri Konsa should be available despite being forced off in England’s 2-0 win over Finland on Tuesday.

Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Everton (4-2-2-2): Martinez; Nedeljkovic, Bogarde, Pau, Digne; Tielemans, Onana; Rogers, McGinn; Duran, Watkins.

Star centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite is not yet ready to return from minor groin surgery, with the England international likely to make his comeback at the end of September.

Everton are also still without Nathan Patterson and Youssef Chermiti, while deadline day arrival Armando Broja is not expected to be fit until next month.

Seamus Coleman is a fresh doubt after he was forced off in the Republic of Ireland’s 2-0 defeat to England, meaning Ashley Young could return to the starting XI to face his former club.

Everton predicted lineup vs Aston Villa (4-4-1-1): Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, O’Brien, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Garner, McNeil; Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin.

Emery will have one eye on their Champions League opener and he does have some fitness concerns in defence which could hand Everton a lifeline. However, many will question whether Dyche’s side have the capacity, let alone the minerals, to get anything from Saturday’s game.

Everton have endured a horrid start to the new season, and the feeling surrounding the club after the international break is toxic. Things will likely get worse before they improve this season because they’re going to find it hard to get anything from Saturday’s game.

They may have lost to Arsenal in their home opener, but Villa have started the season well and they should cruise to three points here.

Prediction: Aston Villa 4-1 Everton

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