Villa – Everton; I don’t know what to think

You could say we’ve been somewhat unlucky in our games against Spurs and Bournemouth.
First, because we possibly outplayed Spurs for a good part of the game, where Erickson changed everything.
And second because we gave Bournemouth a flying start, which was somewhat irretrievable, very early on.
We possibly outplayed them too, over the course of the game.

But it doesn’t matter.
What does is results.
Against Spurs, they had a player a class apart in Kane, who quite simply punished us.
Bournemouth? Well, they just played a canny game and held out.

Before I make my guess on the result, here’s what we know;

Hause is available. Kodjia is in light training, but won’t be available tonight, while Chester is still out with a hamstring problem.
Have we seen the last of Chester for us? It wouldn’t surprise me, a final bow apart.

As for Everton, Lucas Digne has recovered from a thigh strain he picked up last weekend and Leighton Baines is also available.

So both squads in good shape then.

What to say about Everton?
Well, I see them as a very decent, consistent middle table side, who are good all over.
They’ve yet to concede this season, having opened with a goaless draw against Palace and then winning at home against Watford.
The good news is Idrissa Gueye won’t be there to bite us on the proverbial, but Everton do have Fabian Delph, although I doubt he’ll feature.

It’ll be interesting to see who starts on our part, as there has been a lot of clamour for Taylor and Elmohamady to be replaced by Matt Targett and Freddie Guilbert as our fullbacks.
I can mostly see why, as the old guard have produced nothing of note in attack.
But they’ve also done very little wrong in defence either, to my mind.

While I still have Dean Smith’s “you score three, we’ll score four” quote very strongly in mind, the reality is he has to be careful about how he applies this approach.
While I think the Bournemouth game was one where we could be a bit more adventurous, I don’t think this is the case tonight.

What concerns me, is that Guilbert hasn’t even been on the bench yet and you have to wonder why we bought him, if we’re not going to give him a runout, at least.

Thoughts then and sadly, they’re not good.
The best I can see here is a draw.

I really hate to say it, as it goes totally against the optimism that is flowing through the club, but I definitely see this as a game too far above our hopes and very admirable effort.
My money says we’ll continue to make stupid mistakes and give the ball away far too easily.

If I had to put money on a scoreline, it would be a 2-1 loss.

I really hope I’m wrong, as if we lose again and Wesley doesn’t score, I dread to think of the pressure that is going to be applied even more on his shoulders.
Dean Smith insists he’ll do the business, but if anything, that’s just applied even more pressure on him.
The kid needs a goal and I really hope he gets it.