Emery hoping competitiveness translates into first home win

Unai Emery is hoping Aston Villa can channel their competitive spirit once more as they aim for a first home win of the season against Everton.

Villa have so far won both of their away matches against West Ham and Leicester City by a 2-1 scoreline, digging deep to get their six points on the board.

However, they struggled at home against Arsenal, losing 2-0 despite having more attempts and creating a higher expected goals tally.

And despite Everton's recent struggles, Emery expects them to have to fight for the three points when they face off at Villa Park.

"Every game is difficult, but we compete," Emery said. "We did against Arsenal as well. We compete really well.

"Competitive is what we want to be, but we always want to improve and try to perform quality and try to be very demanding in our analysis of ourselves, and I'm happy with how they respond on the pitch."

Meanwhile, Everton are yet to get a point on the board after they began their season with three consecutive defeats.

They currently prop up the table, having conceded 10 goals and scored just two.

New signing Tim Iroegbunam, who joined the Toffees from Villa in the transfer window, has played every minute of the campaign so far and is hopeful he can help to get the team back on track.

"Obviously, the couple of results we've had in the league so far have been disappointing but, from a personal point of view, I'm pleased with how it's been going," he said.

"I knew that if I did well in pre-season that I could have a chance to play straight away. The fact that it's happened for me is promising, but there's lots to do."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Aston Villa – Jhon Duran

Despite only starting three Premier League games in his career, Jhon Duran has scored seven goals in the competition, with six of these coming as a substitute.

His average of 96 minutes per goal is the best of any Villa player to score 3+ times for the club in the Premier League.

Everton – Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has made 97 off-the-ball runs in the Premier League this season, the most of any player, with 44 of these being targeted, also a league-high.

The striker has either scored (five) or assisted (two) seven of the Toffees' last 12 league goals.

MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

Since their return to the Premier League in 2019, Villa have remained unbeaten in all 10 of their league meetings with Everton (W7 D3), keeping seven clean sheets and conceding just three goals in that run.

Following a run of 15 successive home league wins from March to December 2023, Villa have since won just four of their last 12 Premier League games at Villa Park (D4 L4), losing their only such match this season 0-2 to Arsenal. Only in 2013-14 have the Villans lost both of their first two home matches of a Premier League campaign.

Meanwhile, Everton have lost eight of their last 10 top-flight games that have immediately followed an international break (W1 D1), including all four such matches last season. Villa, meanwhile, have won each of their last five league matches immediately following an international break.

Everton, along with Southampton, are one of two sides to lose all three of their Premier League games so far this season. Only in 1926-27 (five) and 1958-59 (six) have the Toffees ever had a longer losing run from the beginning of a league campaign.

Dyche's men are currently on a torrid run, having lost each of their last four Premier League games; not since October 2005, under David Moyes, have the Toffees lost five in a row in the competition (a run of six).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Aston Villa – 58.6%

Draw – 21.5%

Everton – 19.8%