Ramsey is a fine young player. Showed a proper turn of pace there.

Villa mean business here.

Jacob Ramsey charges in down the left and is only halted on the edge of the box by a fine tackle from Mason Holgate.

Kevin Campbell
Former Everton and Arsenal striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

Everton have a game plan and will put Villa under pressure and turn fans against the team and manager, question is can they put the game plan into practice?

Chance!

Jordan Pickford stays on his line and it allows John McGinn's corner to drop to Villa's summer signing Diego Carlos. He gets more shoulder on it than head, though, and sends the ball over the bar.

Villa beat Everton home and away last season. They're quickly on the front foot here and win the game's first corner.

It's fixture that has been played the most in England's top-flight, between sides now managed by two of England's finest midfielders of the modern era.

Both need a win. It promises to be a cracker. It is now under way...

Mike: Hopefully Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard won't keep getting in each other's way on the touchline, given they've got a fair bit of form for that back in the day.

Here come the teams out on to a very sunny and lively Villa Park.

Both these teams lost their opening game. This is, even at this early stage of the season, a big match for both.

Image source, .

Everton should have defender Conor Coady and midfielder Amadou Onana making their debuts, but they missed a specialist striker in their defeat by Chelsea and still look light up front, even with Salomon Rondon back from suspension.

I didn't see Villa losing to Bournemouth at all, and they really need a positive result here after that performance.

Villa boss Steven Gerrard was really scathing of his side, especially in an attacking sense, so what is going to change this time?

If they don't beat Everton, you can sense there will be a bit of frustration from the Villa fans - and I don't think they will beat them.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Dibs: This Newcastle fan says Gerrard was by far the better player. He could turn games by himself. And slightly better of two very average managers.

Image source, .

• Since returning to the Premier League in 2019, Aston Villa are unbeaten in all six of their league games against Everton (W4 D2); they are the only side they’ve faced in all three seasons since then and not lost against.
• Everton have failed to score in each of their previous three away Premier League matches against Aston Villa, attempting 38 shots without success. They are the only side they’ve faced in each of the past three seasons and not scored against on the road.
• Everton won just two away Premier League games in 2021-22, their fewest in a season since 2003-04 (1), while the Toffees lost 13 games on the road, their most since 2000-01 (also 13).
• Aston Villa have won just two of their 10 home Premier League games so far in 2022 (D4 L4) – no side to have featured in both seasons have won fewer than the Villans this calendar year.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Everton’s season started with defeat at home to Chelsea, but recent days have brought some long overdue signs of optimism at Goodison Park.

The 1-0 loss exposed Everton’s folly in not signing a striker to replace Richarlison, however the performance of Frank Lampard’s side showed flashes of promise and only Jorginho’s penalty separated the sides.

Everton’s recruitment has been the stuff of nightmares, but more recent arrivals have been welcomed by a fanbase in despair at the recent management of the club from the top.

James Tarkowski has quickly shown his leadership qualities while the surprise addition of Wolves captain Conor Coady adds more of those qualities, a commodity desperately lacking at Everton in recent years.

Dwight McNeil is also a player of promise while the move to beat West Ham United to Lille’s highly-rated 20-year-old midfield man Amadou Onana in a £33m deal showed both ambition and a willingness to target top young talent with resale value.

The proposed return of Idrissa Gueye from Paris St. Germain has also been welcomed. He was a hugely popular figure in his first spell, highly effective as a low-key but highly efficient defensive shield.

So far so good.

The elephant in Everton’s room is that lack of a striker, a problem exacerbated by Dominic Calvert-Lewin being sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury.

Everton and Lampard will surely be addressing this as a matter of urgency otherwise any rising promise and optimism could be fatally undermined and, of course, the mood will be judged by results, starting at Aston Villa on Saturday.

While it would be stretching reality to breaking point to suggest there is anything like a spring in the step of Everton fans, the mood is certainly a little more upbeat than it has been.

Dennis: Aston Villa vs Everton is always a thriller. Expect a lot of goals in this one

Kevin Campbell
Former Everton and Arsenal striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

Its embarrassing for a player to have the captainship taken away, Steven Gerrard knows what he was doing, he must have looked at things about Tyrone Mings that he didn't like. You have to make big calls as a manager, if Aston Villa go on to win it wont be mentioned, Villa has to go and get the result, they're in with a chance to finish with the best of the rest. Gerrard knew it was a huge call that he had to get right.

Ian Kennedy
Reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside Sport

Everton fans will be encouraged to see a steady flow of players now coming into the club, with defenders James Tarkowski, Conor Coady and Ruben Vinagre, plus wide-man Dwight McNeil and midfielder Amadou Onana all joining. All are good players who will add much the squad. But it’s in the striker department that the main concerns now lie.

The departure of Richarlison and the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the next few weeks are huge blows, and clearly Frank Lampard and his staff will be seeing what they can do before the transfer window closes. Yes they’ll have Salomon Rondon available again after suspension, but you could argue the Blues may need not just one but two new strikers to bolster the options.

We know good strikers are hard to come by, so it won’t be easy, but if they can find them - and not just stop-gaps, but players with a genuine hunger to play every week and an ability to find the net on a regular basis - it could make all the difference to augment the quality that has been acquired in those deeper positions.

Mike Richards, Unholy Trinity, external

Saturday’s opening day defeat to Chelsea has brought about a renewed positivity amongst the Everton fan base. A team so often susceptible to conceding from set pieces last season looked solid and resolute when defending all sixteen corners they faced. Lead by the every impressive James Tarkowski, Frank Lampard has a strong base to build upon going forward.

With the addition of Conor Coady and incoming Amadou Onana, there’s a feeling this side will become a tough nut to crack, however it’s imperative we now turn our attentions to attacking options before the transfer window closes.

One thing Saturday’s performance highlighted, was the need to bring in at least a short-term replacement for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He is pivotal to how we set up and being the pressure release valve against sides that we give up possession to. I fully expect movement in the last few weeks of the window. After what’s been a slow summer full of trepidation, we may actually come out of the window stronger than when it opened.

Everything Everton in one place – bookmark the page or if you’re using the app hit the bell icon for club notifications

In honour of 30 years of the Premier League, we asked you for your all-time PL XI.

Below is your team, based on most selections. Personally, the two changes I'd make would be Patrick Vieira and Kevin de Bruyne out and Paul Scholes and Roy Keane in (and no, I'm not a Man Utd fan).

But, you know, it's all about opinions. A mate of mine is adamant that Frank Lampard should be in ahead of Steven Gerrard.

Read more here.

Image source, BBC Sport

As many are quick to point out, football existed before the Premier League.

It's apt then that today's first fixture is the most played in English top flight history. Of the 208 top flight matches between these clubs, Aston Villa won 77, Everton 76 and there were 55 draws.

David Michael, My Old Man Said, external

Philippe Coutinho was the marquee signing that was supposed to inspire Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa on a journey towards the upper regions of the Premier League. While the Brazilian maestro has undoubtedly worked well as a vanity signing - exciting the fanbase, helping attract other players like Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos, and allowing the club to regain some of the lustre it lost due to Jack Grealish’s departure – so far, on the pitch, the returns have been questionable.

Has Coutinho been playing within himself? Or is a Villa midfield short of clear identity and balance, not providing the foundation to allow him to express himself fully?

The season opening Bournemouth defeat continued trends from last season, and suggested it might be a case of both.

There’s a double effect of having an ineffective Coutinho playing. It also means that Emi Buendia has been short-changed with game time and the chance to fully integrate into the team, stunting his potential to be a major player for Villa.

Could both play together? Or does that leave the team short...literally, in terms of its physical profile? Gerrard must find an answer fast to unlock and not squander their undoubted talents.

Everything Aston Villa in one place – bookmark the page or if you’re using the app hit the bell icon for club notifications

Yep, it's 30 years since the start of the Premier League.

For those of you old enough to appreciate it, here are today's fixtures as they would have looked on Ceefax.

Thankfully, we'll bring you goals as they go in here so you won't have to wait for page 2/2 to come around.

Image source, BBC Sport