Aston Villa vs. Everton, Lineups And Open Match Thread

ASTON VILLA

OVERALL: 0-0-1, -1 GD

POSITION: 15th

LAST 5: L- - - -

STARTING XI: Shay Given, Ciaran Clark, Ron Vlaar, Nathan Baker, Matthew Lowton, Chris Herd, Karim El Ahmadi, BARRY BANNAN, Charles N'Zogbia, Darren Bent, Nathan Delfonueso

SUBS: Brad Guzan, Stephen Ireland, Fabian Delph, Eric Lichaj, Brett Holman, Andreas Weimman, Graham Burke

EVERTON

OVERALL: 1-0-0, +1 GD

POSITION: 7th

LAST 5: W- - - -

STARTING XI: Tim Howard, Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Phil Neville, Darron Gibson, Leon Osmon, Steven Pinaar, Steven Naismith, Nikica Jelavic, Marouane Fellaini

SUBS: I ran out of copy-paste steam and need coffee.

Okay, so the first game didn't go as well as we'd have liked. But there are still 37 to play. This is a tough one to be sure; Everton may very well be better than a lot of people thought, and most people thought they were pretty good. But this isn't a Villa team devoid of talent. They can play well. And despite the disappointment of last week's game, I'm expecting Villa Park to be louder than it has been in far too long.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

• Maraoune Fellaini. Dear god, Maraoune Fellaini.
• Villa's wing play. It has to be better.
• Is Darren Ben dropping deeper? Could signal an interesting tactical tweak.
• Everton's defensive pressure in midfield. From my perspective, the heavier the better.