Aston Villa v Everton - Match preview

Watkins, the club’s £28million record signing, had not missed a minute of his maiden top flight campaign before being sent-off late in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.

So central had the 25-year-old become to Villa’s style of play, his absence now presents Smith with a headache for tonight’s visit of Everton.

With Wesley only fit enough for the bench having only recently returned from a 16-month injury lay-off, the most obvious solution would be to hand Keinan Davis a first league start of the campaign.

But Smith also has the option of moving Bertrand Traore into a more central role, while he has not ruled out changing formation entirely.

“I’ve got a few options and I am pretty open at the moment,” he admitted yesterday. “It is the first game Ollie has missed and he has been excellent.”

Several days on, Smith still remains deeply unhappy both with the circumstances of Watkins’ dismissal and Villa’s inability to appeal it.

The club’s top scorer was shown a second yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh after being adjudged to have dived while being challenged by United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Both in real time and on replay it appeared a harsh decision. With dismissals resulting from two bookings not open to appeal, Villa were left helpless to do anything about it.

“It does look like an archaic law doesn’t it?” said Smith. “You can’t go back and look at whether it actually was a yellow card which led to the red.

“My thoughts haven’t changed from after the game. In a split-second the referee has decided Ollie Watkins has deceived him with simulation, so he’s pretty much calling him a cheat.

“And then we go to VAR and they have to decide whether they do think he’s cheating.

“Not once has Ollie appealed for a penalty. Ollie has touched the ball, the goalie’s come out with his foot up, there is slight contact.

“Ollie goes down at speed but never appeals. For me he’s not looking to deceive the officials there and he’s not cheating.

“Sometimes accountability comes into it. I’m sure Chris Kavanagh has got home and thought: ‘Yeah, I made a mistake there.’

“If he could come forward and say: ‘I’ve made a mistake, rescind the card,’ then there’s some accountability for the officials as well.

“I spoke to Chris after the game and made my feelings known. He gave me his viewpoint on it. Obviously, they didn’t match up!”

There can be little doubt Watkins’ absence will have been celebrated at Everton. It is less than a fortnight since the striker terrorised the Toffees during Villa’s 2-1 win at Goodison Park.

Tonight’s match was originally due to be played in January but postponed by the Covid-19 outbreak which ripped through Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground and briefly halted their season. Smith, whose team face four matches in the final 11 days of the season, yesterday claimed to have “no idea” why it had taken so long to reschedule.

Victory would see Villa, playing catch-up ever since sitting out the first weekend of the season, jump back into the top half of the Premier League table.

“We finished last season unbeaten in our last four games, which enabled us to retain our Premier League status,” said Smith.

“I’d love to go unbeaten again. We’ve got some really good games to play – Everton, Crystal Palace, Tottenham and then Chelsea.

“They’re ones that the players should be licking their lips for and looking to enjoy. That’s what we aim to do and if we do that, we could end up in the top ten.”

Everton sit eighth in the table and still very much in the race for European qualification after winning 1-0 at West Ham on Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti’s team have won 11 out of 17 matches away from home this season.