Ollie Watkins has had a steady season so far returning 12 goal contributions across his 20 Premier League appearances (8 goals, 4 assists), he’s faced a battle to keep his starting spot in Unai Emery’s side with the excellent form of Jhon Duran.

Watkins has had 25 shots on target across his 20 Premier League appearances this campaign (1.64 per 90) which is slightly higher than his 1.31 shots on target per 90 last season but shows consistency. Watkins scored twice and managed 4 shots on target in Aston Villa’s 3-2 win over Everton earlier in the season.

Villa managed 17 shots and 8 on target in the initial meeting between these sides, these numbers should slightly decrease in this fixture as they’re taking on Everton at Goodison Park, but there should still be ample opportunity for Watkins to find the target at least once.

Matty Cash lines up at Goodison Park against Everton’s standout attacker in Iliman Ndiaye. Cash is averaging 1.45 fouls committed per 90 across his 13 Premier League appearances this season.

Ndiaye has won 31 fouls across his 19 Premier League appearances this season (1.84 per 90) – more than any other Everton player. Whilst Everton are quite structured throughout, Ndiaye offers them something slightly different that can test Cash on a few occasions with both players’ foul numbers lining up nicely here.

Cash didn’t feature in the initial meeting between the sides at Villa Park but his replacement in Bogarde committed 2 fouls and had to make 3 tackles against Ndiaye. Bogarde contested 11 duels in the game and it should be a similar defensive load for Cash here.

Watkins’ foul numbers this season suggest that he has regularly been involved in duels with his opposition centre back. He’s averaging 1.58 fouls won per 90 and 1.31 fouls committed per 90 across his 20 Premier League appearances this season.

He’ll be up against James Tarkowski (1.16 fouls committed per 90). Looking at the foul numbers of the Everton centre backs, Watkins is likely to be in duels against Tarkowksi as the more aggressive of the pairing, which could see him draw a foul or two.

Watkins contested 5 duels in the initial meeting between the sides at Villa Park earlier in the season, these didn’t translate to him drawing a foul but his record has remained steady since then and he faces up against an Everton side that have committed at least 9 fouls in each of their last 5 Premier League matches.

There has been an increase in cards and fouls for Everton in recent weeks, which is likely linked to the frustration arising at the end of Sean Dyche’s tenure. They’ve received 3+ cards in 4 out of their last 5 Premier League matches.

This has coincided with an increase in fouls as well, Everton are averaging 11.5 fouls committed per game across their 20 league games this season. They face an Aston Villa side who have drawn 11+ fouls in each of their last 3 games in the Premier League.

Everton are averaging 2.0 cards per game across the entirety of the season so we just need them to match their season average here. It’s likely they exceed this, Everton committed 12 fouls and were shown 4 yellow cards in the initial meeting between the sides at Villa Park earlier in the season.

Morgan Rogers has registered 9 goal contributions across his 19 Premier League appearances this season, he’s become crucial to Unai Emery’s side operating just in behind Ollie Watkins. He’s scored in each of his last 2 appearances in all competitions.

His frame could prove pivotal here, Everton have a very physical and aggressive midfield which can get the better of superior sides, especially at Goodison Park. Rogers’ profile is unique in the sense that he can compete with the physicality of Everton’s midfield players which could make him the most important Villa player in the context of this game with Everton difficult to break down at home.

Rogers didn’t manage a goal contribution in Aston Villa’s 3-2 win over the Toffees earlier in the season, but he did have 3 shots on goal, all 3 of which found the target suggesting that he can get joy against a resolute Everton backline. With form on his side, Rogers should be involved in any positive attacking play for Aston Villa here.

Gueye has been a reliable member of the Everton midfield this season, his main role under Sean Dyche was to break up play, underlined by his average of 1.87 fouls committed per 90 this campaign. This role is unlikely to change under new manager David Moyes.

Only Beto (3.3 fouls committed per 90) is committing more fouls per 90 than Gueye in the Everton squad and the striker’s average is skewed by a lack of playing time, so we can comfortably say that Gueye is the most likely to bring down an opposition player in the Everton ranks.

These high foul numbers haven’t quite translated into cards for Gueye, he’s been cautioned 3 times this season which is quite low when considering his role in the team and his foul record this season. He’ll be up against Morgan Rogers who is averaging 1.61 fouls won per 90 across his 19 Premier League appearances this season.

Gueye committed 2 fouls in the initial meeting between the sides and was lucky to avoid a booking, 1 of these was on Rogers.

Aston Villa are averaging 6.60 corners per game in the Premier League this season, it’s not something that was traditionally part of Unai Emery’s playbook but the introduction of a set piece coach and the physical demands of English football have made it a welcome addition to Villa’s attacking plan.

Their average drops slightly when looking at their away fixtures this season to 4.89 corners per game, this is a trend that seems to affect Villa in all metrics of their performance, they aren’t as convincing or dominant away from home.

Everton are averaging 5.11 corners conceded per game at Goodison Park, which should balance out Villa’s slightly lower corner output on the road. Aston Villa racked up 6 corners in their 3-2 win over Everton earlier in the campaign.

Everton have seen an increase in recent weeks from their season averages in both cards and fouls, they actually rank quite low in the Premier League for cards (2.0 per game) which you wouldn’t expect from a side that only averages 38.9% possession per game and averages 11.5 fouls committed per game.

Everton will be without the ball for the majority of this encounter and face a side that have drawn 11+ fouls in each of their last 3 games in the Premier League this season.

Everton were shown 4 cards to Aston Villa’s 1 in the initial meeting between these sides at Villa Park this season. The referee for this game is Samuel Barrott who is averaging 5.08 cards per game in the Premier League this season, an average superior to the majority of Premier League officials.