Seeking a third successive Premier League home win under the tutelage of Sean Dyche, Everton welcome Aston Villa to Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Toffees boosted their survival hopes with a 1-0 success over Leeds United last time out, while Unai Emery’s men suffered a dramatic late 4-2 defeat to league leaders Arsenal.

Insisting that he meant his sensational strike against Leeds last weekend, Everton captain Seamus Coleman came up with the telling contribution in a fiery basement battle against Leeds, who demotion fears deepened as Everton moved that little bit closer to safety.

With 64 minutes on the clock, Coleman caught Illan Meslier off his line, and his sweetly-struck cross-cum-shot from a tight angle found the back of the net before the dogged Dyche-marshalled defence kept the Whites at bay for the remainder of the match.

Everton secured a massive 1-0 victory over fellow relegation rivals Leeds United on Saturday, helping them climb out of the Premier League (PL) bottom three for the first time since 3 January.

Having overseen two wins from his first three matches in charge (L1), there’s a growing belief that the Toffees can get out of their sticky situation under the stewardship of new boss Sean Dyche who brings with him a personal H2H record against Aston Villa of just one defeat in six meetings (W2, D3, L1).

In the build-up to last weekend’s success, Dyche declared home games will be very “important” because of the atmosphere Goodison Park creates. A record of two wins ‘to nil’ would suggest the home crowd have been playing their part since his arrival, and now Everton could seal a third straight home league win without reply in the same campaign for the first time since May 2019.

A trip to Goodison does offer Villa hope they can avoid that fate as they do hold a dominant recent record against their hosts, remaining unbeaten in each of their seven H2Hs with Everton since earning promotion in 2019 (W5, D2) including winning the last three meetings. The Villans did also accumulate three straight PL away wins prior to their 3-1 set-back at the Etihad.

Key battle: Everton defender James Tarkowski has registered five shots in his three matches under Dyche, as many as he’d managed in the eight competitive matches before the manager’s arrival. He’ll be out to try and stop Villa’s Ollie Watkins who could become the club’s first player to score in five consecutive PL matches.

Hot stat: Everton against Aston Villa is the most played fixture in English Football League history, with this the 210th meeting (76 wins for Everton, 78 wins for Villa, 55 draws).

Everton Premier League form:

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Everton form (all competitions):

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Aston Villa Premier League form:

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Aston Villa form (all competitions):

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Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowski, Coady, Mykolenko; McNeil, Onana, Gueye, Doucoure, Iwobi; Maupay

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Moreno; Kamara, Luiz, McGinn; Buendia, Watkins, Coutinho

With both of Everton’s goals under Dyche so far coming from defenders, the Toffees’ prolonged lack of threat in the final third will likely deny them a third successive home win, even if Villa’s defending has left a lot to be desired recently.

In contrast, the Lions are proving consistently potent in the final third as Watkins continues his hot streak, but the Toffees defence can once again star for their side in a hard-fought draw.