A little over a month ago, Aston Villa and Everton locked horns in a Premier League showdown that saw Unai Emery's side dominate from start to finish. The clash took place at Villa Park on the second weekend of top-flight action, with Villa putting on a dazzling display to secure a resounding 4-0 victory. Now, the two teams are set to meet once again in the Midlands, but this time it's in the EFL Cup, a third-round contest that promises its fair share of excitement.

Everton appears to have found their footing since their previous encounter with Villa, notching a convincing 3-1 win over Brentford this past weekend. Villa, too, enjoyed success in London by defeating Chelsea. However, they did stumble in UEFA Europa Conference League action last week against Legia Warsaw, albeit with a somewhat rotated squad as selected by Emery.

As for the line-ups in this upcoming clash, it remains to be seen how both Spaniard Emery and Everton's Sean Dyche will configure their teams. Dyche might consider placing Harrison on the bench, but the absence of Seamus Coleman and Dele Alli continues. Coleman suffered knee ligament damage in May, while Alli underwent hip surgery earlier in the year. Both players are working closely with physiotherapists, focusing on running work in training rather than full-scale ball work with the rest of the team.

Villa, on the other hand, is contending with several long-term injuries. Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia are expected to miss the majority, if not the entire, 2023-24 campaign due to serious knee problems. Bertrand Traore is nearing a return after being absent from the first-team squad since late August due to an undisclosed issue. Tim Iroegbunam and Diego Carlos are also sidelined, with no confirmed return dates.

Despite the injuries on both teams, I believe that Aston Villa will have an easy job against Everton as they demonstrated their strength in the aforementioned 4-0 victory, so another success shouldn't be hard to replicate!

Everton, meanwhile, has witnessed the return of some injured players like Dominic Calvert-Lewin. However, it may still be too soon for summer signing Jack Harrison. The winger, acquired on loan from Leeds United in August, arrived at Goodison Park with an injury but made his return to action in an under-21 fixture against Norwich City late last week.

一个多月前，阿斯顿维拉和埃弗顿在一场英超决赛中针锋相对，埃梅里的球队从开始到结束都占据着统治地位。这场冲突发生在维拉公园，这是顶级联赛的第二个周末，维拉打出了令人眼花缭乱的表现，确保了4-0的大胜。现在，这两支球队将在米德兰兹再次相遇，但这次是在第三轮的联赛杯比赛中，这将是一场令人兴奋的比赛。

埃弗顿似乎已经找到了自己的立足点，在上个周末与维拉的比赛中，埃弗顿以令人信服的3-1战胜了布伦特福德。维拉也在伦敦击败了切尔西，获得了成功。然而，他们在上周对阵华沙莱吉亚的欧联杯比赛中表现不佳，尽管埃梅里选择的阵容有些轮换。

至于这场即将到来的比赛的阵容，西班牙人埃梅里和埃弗顿的肖恩·戴奇将如何配置他们的球队还有待观察。戴奇可能会考虑把哈里森放在替补席上，但科尔曼和阿利的缺阵仍在继续。科尔曼在5月份膝盖韧带受伤，而阿利在今年早些时候接受了髋关节手术。两名球员都在与理疗师密切合作，专注于跑步训练，而不是与球队其他成员进行全面的控球训练。

另一方面，维拉正在与几次长期伤病作斗争。由于严重的膝盖问题，泰龙-明斯和埃米-布恩迪亚预计将缺席2023-24赛季的大部分比赛，如果不是整个赛季的话。自从八月底由于一个未公开的伤病而缺席一线队后，特拉奥雷即将复出。蒂姆·伊洛格布南和迭戈·卡洛斯也将缺席，目前还没有确定的复出日期。

尽管两队都有伤病，我相信阿斯顿维拉对阵埃弗顿会很轻松，因为他们在前面提到的4-0的胜利中展示了他们的实力，所以另一场胜利应该不难复制!

与此同时，埃弗顿也见证了一些受伤球员的回归，比如多米尼克·卡尔弗特-卢因。然而，对于夏天签下的杰克·哈里森来说，这可能还为时过早。这位8月份从利兹联租借而来的边锋带着伤病来到古迪逊公园球场，但在上周晚些时候对阵诺维奇城的u21比赛中复出。