Everton vs Aston Villa pre-match thread

[Clampy]

I'm not sure if losing on Sunday would be 'catastrophic'. A slight overstatement there to be honest. Look at how many Arsenal have lost recently and they're only five points behind Liverpool who will at some point lose a game or two as well. .

[Monty]

Yeah, an L at Everton, by all accounts a good side now, is not a catastrophe. The passed-up chances against Sheffield United and at Old Trafford much better fit that description.

[VillaTim]

a loss at Everton would not be good in terms of top 4 aspirations and more of a dent to confidence and belief. We really should be going here and winning

[Dogtanian]

A loss would not be good, but this is a difficult game and one that Everton will be up for.

Over the last 5 years, it's taken an average of 68 pts to get top four, with a high of 71 points. So we could be as little as 26-29 points off, with 18 games left to get them in. We're going to lose some games as we are not the finished article, but if we keep our PPG above 2 points a game (as it has been since Emery took over) we have a very good chance of finishing in the CL places.

The issue we face now is more teams paying us respect and trying to shut up shop against us. It will take a step up now to keep doing what we have been doing. But we have a margin for error.

[VillaTim]

We need the likes of Tielemans / Torres back ASAP and Ramsey back to his old self. Diaby you would hope has a better 2nd half the season now he's acclimatised . Its going to be a tough 2nd half keeping this PPG going

[paul_e]

It's worth poining out that whilst Everton are doing ok their home form is still pretty ropey and they're one of 3 teams in the league who are better away.

[Smirker]

Yeah, an L at Everton, by all accounts a good side now, is not a catastrophe. The passed-up chances against Sheffield United and at Old Trafford much better fit that description.

This would be worse because it would be coming after those. In a short run of games the second loss is always worse. And the third worse still. And so on. If you want to win the title.

[edgysatsuma89]

Yeah, an L at Everton, by all accounts a good side now, is not a catastrophe. The passed-up chances against Sheffield United and at Old Trafford much better fit that description.

I know every club will have their equivalents but if we miss out on something by 1/3 points then dropping that 2 goal lead against that shit Man United team will forever piss me off.

[Sexual Ealing]

It's worth poining out that whilst Everton are doing ok their home form is still pretty ropey and they're one of 3 teams in the league who are better away.

They call that the O'Neill Protocol.

[VillaTim]

Yeah, an L at Everton, by all accounts a good side now, is not a catastrophe. The passed-up chances against Sheffield United and at Old Trafford much better fit that description.

This would be worse because it would be coming after those. In a short run of games the second loss is always worse. And the third worse still. And so on. If you want to win the title.

performances have been falling off. It would be nice to put a good show on again and a result, though i'd happily take a win however it comes

[Risso]

This is a really good test of where we are at. A loss is not catastrophic but would keep us under the radar. So would a draw.
A win and it will all be about the 10 point penalty for Everton.

Hard game

I don't think it would be a catastrophe Rob, it would just be a bit of a set back.  Everybody has had a bit of a break now, so I think it's time we really started to get the away performances a bit more consistent. We've got a better team than them, and a much better manager. As long as we don't go toe-to-toe with their physicality (which we'd lose) then we should be OK. Pass them to death and beat them 3-0 please.

[Hookeysmith]

As much as i would love a win i really hope we have a dominant performance to go with it (although the result is everything).

I love it when other fans speak highly of us

[LeeB]

I do myself, but I also love it when they're spitting feathers at the injustice of all the offsides etc whilst we walk off with the points.

[eamonn]

Emi Buendia loves scoring against these bozos. Thoughts are with him at this difficult time.

[Dogtanian]

Emi Buendia loves scoring against these bozos. Thoughts are with him at this difficult time.

Are they the last people Watkins scored a pen against?