Five facts: Numbers you need to know ahead of Everton vs Aston Villa

The most played top-flight fixture in English football is back for its latest edition on Wednesday night and with it, so too is said most used fact as Everton and Aston Villa go toe-to-toe in the Premier League.

Ahead of what is a monumentous match for Villa and an inconsequential one as far as Everton are concerned, we've dug out five key facts to consider pre-kick off at Goodison Park.

Villa must buck Goodison trend

As far as the recent history between these two sides is concerned, it's Everton who undeniably have the edge despite a 2-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at Villa Park this season. They'll certainly be glad to be back at Goodison, where they are unbeaten in this fixture since 2008, when goals in the first and last minute saw the visitors claim a 3-2 victory.

It's not just Everton's home record in this match-up Villa have to contend with either, as the Toffees have the chance to go 11 league games unbeaten on home turf, which would take them past Manchester City's best streak in that regard and only behind rivals Liverpool (18). It's fair to say Merseyside hasn't been a favourable destination for travelling teams.

Villa making strides defensively

While they had their share of fortune early on against Crystal Palace last time out - a rarity as far as Dean Smith is concerned - there's little question Villa were good value for their 2-0 win and what was just their sixth clean sheet of the season. It was reward for a pretty dramatic improvement from a defensive standpoint since the return to action, and the fourth time in seven matches that they had restricted their opponents to fewer than ten shots.

As such, their average shots conceded per game has fallen from 18.1 pre-lockdown to just 10.7 post-lockdown.

Have Everton packed in?

While results on the whole haven't been discouraging since lockdown, the Toffees were accused of downing tools in the 3-0 defeat at Wolves last time out, with no great incentive to finish the season strongly. While some tricky opponents since the restart would go some way to explaining a substantial drop off in possession, from 49.8 per cent to just 41.7 per cent, the fact that tackles have also fallen significantly despite seeing less of the ball (18.4 to 15.8) might suggest the work rate has indeed dipped a little.

Richarlison enjoying home comforts

While strike partner Dominic Calvert-Lewin has perhaps made greater strides in terms of development this season, Richarlison is still Everton's star man and has enjoyed himself at Goodison of late. The Brazilian has scored in four of his last six league matches at home and in each of his last three against bottom half opposition. The 23-year-old has also had at least two shots in all 16 of his league appearances at Goodison Park this season, highlighting his constant threat.

Grealish impact not the same on the road

While there's little doubt as to Aston Villa's most important player, it's fair to say Jack Grealish has struggled to influence matches away from home in the manner that he has at Villa Park. The playmaker has actually scored more goals on the road in the league (four to three), but his numbers for key passes and dribbles are substantially inferior. While that's certainly to be expected to a degree, a fall from 55 to 30 in terms of chances created and from 46 to just 21. As such his WhoScored rating of 7.51 at home - enough to rank ninth in the league - drops to a very modest 6.91 on the road - ranking 69th by comparison.