Even though Everton are playing for nothing other than prize money for finishing a place or two higher than they are at the moment, they've picked up sixteen points from a possible 18 and they showed Manchester United last week how to win a match.
Even though they're playing for nothing, it's not going to be easy today. A win though really could make things a lot easier for us, but this game shouldn't be taken lightly.
But we're playing well. The manager thinks we're playing some of the best football in the Premier League at the moment and the players are clearly playing with some confidence and so much that some of it we haven't seen from some of them before.
But it all comes down to continuing to do what we've been doing. We were very unlucky against Manchester City last time out and were very good against Liverpool and Spurs before that. We can beat Everton today and if we do, we just have to hope that the other sides around us don't have such a good day.
Updates and stats
So with that written, it's time for some interesting and not so interesting statistics from the BBC.
- This is the 200th staging of the most-played fixture in the English top flight. Everton lead by 74 wins to Aston Villa's 72, with 53 draws.
- Everton could register four straight league wins against Villa for the first time in 40 years.
- Villa are winless in eight meetings since a 1-0 home victory in August 2010 (D4, L4).
Aston Villa numbers
- They have the worst home record in the division, with three wins, 15 points and just 14 goals scored from 16 games.
- Villa have only won one quarter of their last 73 home matches in the Premier League, and averaged 1.03 points per game in those fixtures (W18, D21, L34, Pts 75).
- Their tally of 14 league goals in nine games under Tim Sherwood is two more than they managed in the previous 25 games of the season.
- According to Opta statistics, Villa are averaging a goal every six shots under Sherwood compared to one every 16 when Paul Lambert was in charge this season.
- The Villans still need seven points to eclipse their lowest final total in a Premier League campaign of 38 points, which they got in 2011-12 and 2013-14.
- Christian Benteke has scored nine goals in his last eight league and cup games for Aston Villa, having only scored three times in his first 21 appearances.
Everton numbers
- Everton have taken 16 points from their last six Premier League games. It previously took them 19 matches to earn that many points.
- They have kept seven clean sheets in 13 league games and only Arsenal and Chelsea have conceded fewer goals than Everton's nine in that period.
- Despite their recent revival, the Toffees are 22 points worse off than they were at the same stage last season.
- Roberto Martinez's side have dropped a league-high 19 points from winning positions.
- Romelu Lukaku has 18 goals this season but his only Premier League strike in nine matches since January was a penalty against Newcastle.
Team news coming later
Right, thanks again to the BBC and with that, I've got three hours of a house move I've got to get through before settling in to the football and the first match today is Leicester and Newcastle. Today, I'll be supporting Newcastle, Southampton, Liverpool and West Ham. That doesn't feel right, but it's got to be done.