Aston Villa hit with ‘bad news’ for Ollie Watkins as pundits all agree with Everton predictions
Chris Sutton, Paul Merson and Alan Shearer have had their say on Aston Villa’s chances against Everton this weekend in their predictions
Aston Villa will be hoping to build momentum when they host Everton on Saturday – the start of an extremely busy period for Unai Emery and his men.
The Toffees visit Villa Park first up after the international, making up one of four Premier League fixtures in the next three weeks. Sandwiched between each of these matches are due to be others in alternative competitions – the Champions League being the hightlight with tests against Young Boys and Bayern Munich, plus a Carabao Cup tie against Wycombe Wanderers – taking the total list to seven games in a short period of time.
Heading into it all, one key worry is the fitness of Ollie Watkins after the striker returned early from England duties for further assessment. Will his potential absence impact Villa’s chances of a result against their 20th-placed opponents?
Ultimately, Chris Sutton believes no, but thinks Watkins’ involvement would lead to a greater goals return. To that end, the pundit gave his reason home side should be fearful for the No.11’s fitness in his predictions for BBC Sport.
“He’s in my Fantasy team, which is bad news for him anyway, but he is an injury doubt after pulling out of the England squad,” the former striker cynically stated.
Sutton ultimately predicted a 2-0 scoreline in favour of Villa as he also touched on the pressure he feels the visitors are under. He added: “It feels like some of their fans have turned against Dyche now, which I think is ridiculous, but he does need a result and unfortunately for him Villa Park is not a place I see Everton getting anything.
The Toffees got hammered 4-0 there last season and, although they will put up a fight, they are not going to get a result on this occasion either.”
Also offering his thoughts on the result, Paul Merson for Sportskeeda also thinks his former side are on the path to 3-0 victory before a ball has even been kicked.
“I can’t see anything but a Villa win here,” he said, before explaining: “Two weeks ago, Everton were 2-0 up and I thought they were comfortably beating Bournemouth in that game. I couldn’t believe it when they lost 3-2 in the end and it sums up Everton at the moment. I still think they’ll avoid relegation this season, but it’s not going to be straightforward and this game is a tough one.”
