Paul Merson predicts result of Everton Premier League clash v Aston Villa
Paul Merson has made his prediction for the upcoming Premier League clash between Everton and Aston Villa this weekend.
The Toffees opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham despite a good performance, while Villa were thumped 5-1 on the road by Newcastle and sit bottom of the table.
But while speaking to Sportskeeda (17 August), Sky Sports pundit Merson admitted that he sees Everton’s struggles in front of goal continuing unless they can get Dominic Calvert-Lewin fit for 25 games of the season and backed Villa to come away with the win on Sunday.
“When Moussa Diaby scored the equalizer five minutes after Newcastle secured the lead last weekend, I thought they were going to bounce back. But they just capitulated after that,” he said.
“Everton played well last week. They were closing people down, hurrying players and making things difficult for the opponents. They conjured up a few good chances as well. But that’s the problem with teams like Everton. They are struggling because they can’t score goals.
“You need to score goals to win matches and if they can’t get Dominic Calvert-Lewin to play at least 25 matches and score goals, they’ll struggle again. I expect Aston Villa to get their first win of the season here. Aston Villa 2-0 Everton.”
Ouch
The performance at Goodison Park last week would have given plenty of fans encouragement about the team’s chances of avoiding a relegation battle again.
Without Calvert-Lewin or Arnaut Danjuma the team created a bunch of chances that Neal Maupay just simply couldn’t take, but with our first-choice attackers available at least one of those would find the back of the net.
It just shows the importance of those players being available, and getting quality depth for them if they’re not.
Merson predicted Everton’s relegation chances before the game last week and admitted that without Calvert-Lewin it looked a big ask, and he’s sticking to his guns now.
That’s fair, but also hard to hear as a fan. We need to prove him wrong and get at this Villa side who have shown that they can be carved open and put to the sword if they’re pressured.
Dyche has the blueprint and we have the squad to do it, we just have to perform now.
In other Everton news, Dyche wants to reunite with former Burnley soldier at Goodison Park.