Villa v Everton: Colin Harvey's pre-match report

Sep 22 2007 By Colin Harvey

I WAS fortunate enough to see Aston Villa in the flesh at Manchester City last week and although they were beaten on that occasion, they could prove a tough proposition for Everton on their own turf tomorrow.

Defence

AS A unit, Villa are a big side, particularly at the back.

Curtis Davies, on-loan from West Bromwich Albion is a highly-rated player but he was left on the bench at Eastlands last week so it will be interesting to see whether Martin O’Neill starts with him this time out.

Last week, Villa went with a back four of Olof Mellberg and Wilifred Bouma in the full-back positions and Martin Laursen and Zat Knight in the centre-back berths.

I noticed that all of them seem to be reasonably quick in their stride but being big men it does tend to take them a step or two to get into things.

Given this, there’s a certain amount of scope for the pace of Andrew Johnson or Yakubu to get some joy running at them.

At right-back, Swede Mellberg is stuck out of his natural position in the heart of the defence and subsequently he tends to drift back inside to the centre where he feels more at home.

As a result there could be plenty of spaces down the left flank for Everton to exploit. David Moyes could well employ a different formation to the bold 4-3-3 he went with at home to Metalist on Thursday night so it remains to be seen who will play down the left.

Even if it’s not Leon Osman, James McFadden or Mikel Arteta who is struggling with injury, there could be an opening there for Everton’s left-back Leighton Baines who likes to get forward.

He’s a good young player who I saw a lot of at Wigan and he’s impressed me the way he’s settled in since his move to Goodison and he often overlaps.

Midfield

THE two Villa wide men, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young, have real pace and both are natural strikers who will look to stretch Everton’s midfielders.

Villa will be looking for their wingers to create holes through the middle and it’s important that Everton’s midfield unit remains compact in order to help their own full-backs.

Agbonlahor and Young will be looking to create one-on-one situations with Tony Hibbert and Baines and try and get past the full-backs.

In the middle of the park Villa have got new boy Nigel Reo-Coker who was their big money signing from West Ham over the summer but it’s skipper Gareth Barry who pulls all the strings.

He’s coming into this game on the back of a great couple of weeks for him following two great games for England.

While he lacks pace, Barry is good on the ball and the pass he threaded through to Michael Owen while on international duty showed what he’s capable of.

Everton’s holding midfielders such as Lee Carsley, Phil Neville or even Phil Jagielka, if he plays, must get into Barry and ensure that he is not allowed to dictate things.

Attack

IT’S the classic big man-little man combination up front for Villa at the moment.

Luke Young likes to feed off the flick-ons that John Carew provides him with.

Norwegian international Carew is a good target man but Moore can sometimes be a bit erratic although he’s scored a few goals when out on loan.

Dangerman

GARETH BARRY loves to disguise a pass. He’ll look one way and the slide the ball in the opposite direction between the centre-back and full-back.

Overall verdict

I BELIEVE this could be an open game but I think it will end in a draw.

Colin Harvey was talking to CHRISTOPHER BEESLEY