ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PICK - EVERTON V ASTON VILLA

English Premier

2011-09-10 - Everton vs Aston Villa

A Sports Betting Pick by Cruiser

Match Preview :

Everton starts this match without Mikel Arteta after he decided he could not resist the temptations of playing Champions League football with Arsenal and made a £10million move to the Gunners on transfer deadline day.

David Moyes did not have enough time to bring in a replacement as a result of the sale, with Real Madrid's Dutch winger Royston Drenthe and the Argentinian striker Denis Stracqualursi his only senior summer signings, both arriving on a season-long loan.

And it has to be said that Everton also recouped almost £5million for Jermaine Beckford and Yakubu but that was not reinvested either and the fans are not happy under the chairmanship of Bill Kenwright.

One thing is for sure is that Everton will miss the presence of Arteta as his last moments with the side saw him scoring a last minute penalty against Blackburn in their last clash, giving the Toffees a fortunate 1-0 victory after seeing the hosts miss two spot-kicks. Everton was poor in their opening game too, losing 1-0 at home to QPR, so Moyes will hope for a better performance from his side despite the sale of Arteta.

For the visitors, despite a goalless draw against Wolves in their last match, it has been an encouraging start to the campaign for them having held Fulham to a goalless draw before winning 3-1 at home to Blackburn.

Their strikers, Gabby Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent were all on target against Rovers and better is to come from Charles N'Zogbia.

Manager Alex McLeish has also strengthened the side in other departments, bringing in Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton on deadline day to replace QPR-bound Luke Young while bringing in midfielder Jermaine Jenas on loan, also from Spurs. Interestingly, they will travel to Merseyside knowing they have not lost in their last 10 Premier League games with the hosts, four of the last five being draws.

Team News :

Villa striker Darren Bent is on course to start after returning to training following the groin injury which forced him out of England's Euro 2012 qualifiers with Bulgaria and Wales.

Meanwhile, Centre-half Richard Dunne is available to start despite having four stitches in a facial wound suffered when helping the Republic of Ireland to a 0-0 draw in Russia.

We could also see new signings Hutton and Jenas take to the field as Villa look to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Everton have problems upfront with Victor Anichebe set to be out until Christmas. The decision to sell Beckford and Yakubu could now come back to haunt them in this match.

Anichebe suffered a groin injury playing for Nigeria on Saturday and with Louis Saha still out, it leaves new boy Stracqualursi and 19-year-old Greek rookie Apostolos Vellios as Moyes only fit strikers.

Tim Cahill will replace Arteta and Marouane Fellaini could adopt the attacking position while left-back Leighton Baines is expected to start after the hamstring problem that caused him to miss the England match against Wales.

Possible lineups

Everton : Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Heitinga, Barkley, Osman, Cahill, Fellaini, Stracqualursi.

Villa : Given, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, N'Zogbia, Petrov, Jenas, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Bent.

Prediction :

Take Aston Villa and accept the 1/2 ball for them not to lose this match.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Draw Match.