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One more away day for Everton to win

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 01: Alex Iwobi of Everton battles for possession with Matt Targett of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa at Goodison Park on May 01, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 01: Alex Iwobi of Everton battles for possession with Matt Targett of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa at Goodison Park on May 01, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) /
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Everton travel to Birmingham to face Aston Villa tomorrow night in another huge match away from Goodison Park.

After securing their eleventh away win at West Ham United, Everton now play the Midlanders again just two weeks or so after falling to a 2-1 defeat to the Villians at the Grand Old Lady.

This is the Toffees game in hand on their rivals and another win would make the prospect of getting European football next season more realistic.

It’s still a long shot though given recent performances and results and even a win tomorrow night still leaves things very much in the balance.

Obviously the Blues cannot reproduce a performance as shambolic as they did last time these two teams met.

Everton were sloppy on the ball, defended awfully and lacked bite and creativity in attack as they have done far too often this season, particularly at home.

As for team selection, Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that both of his Colombian stars Yerry Mina and James Rodriguez are out for tomorrow’s match due to their injury problems.

This gives the manager yet another dilemma, particularly actually Mina’s injury. This might sound strange, but it means that he has to decide if he will bring back Mason Holgate and play a three again or revert to a more traditional back four.

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Doing that though will take away from the attacking potential of the team, especially if Seamus Coleman cannot concentrate on getting forward and supporting the attack as he has done effectively.

As for their opponents, it looks like Villa are ready to welcome back their best player in England forward Jack Grealish.

The Villa star is a superb player with the ability to win a match on his own with his pace, skill and goalscoring ability. I’d like to see him in a royal blue shirt next season but I think that’s extremly unlikely!

This isn’t good news for Everton as Grealish’s return will give even the home team even more of an attacking threat and they certainly had plenty of that at Goodison Park. Ollie Watkins was a real handful in the reverse fixture and he gave the Blues defence plenty of problems.

This then is a difficult match for the Toffees and I think a much more testing one than the West Ham game on Sunday. With two home games coming up it feels like yet another must win match as Everton’s home form doesn’t instill any confidence.