At long last. After five seasons of false starts the Toffees finally begin the new season with a win.
Manager David Moyes will be anxious to kick on now and build on what was hinted at towards the end of last season and continue this good run of form.
Everton are now unbeaten in 10 Premier League games and have recorded five successive wins at Goodison Park in the process.
On Saturday they travel to Villa Park where they haven’t come away with all three points since 2005.
The form guide between the sides points overwhelmingly to a draw which is priced up at 9/4 in Paddy Power’s online betting.
Six of the last seven league fixtures have ended in stalemate and the last three games between the sides at Villa Park have ended 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3.
Paddy Power’s online betting makes it 5/1, 13/1 and 70/1 respectively for history to repeat itself.
Moyes hinted at “trying something different this year†in the post-match analysis after Monday night’s win.
The Toffees were the first team back in the Premier League for pre-season training but Phil Neville revealed that the five-day break after the club pulled out of a planned pre-season tournament in Indonesia was even more beneficial after all the hard work early-doors as it then allowed them to relax.
Holding onto key member of the squad like Monday night’s hero Marouane Fellaini, and signing up Stephen Piennar on a four-year deal was crucial as was the morale-boosting signings of Steven Naismith from Rangers and Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas from Olympiakos.
Moyes is likely to start with more-or-less the same team that served him so well last Monday night.
Aston Villa fans will need to get their iPhones out for a picture of what star-striker Darren Bent looks like when he lines out on Saturday.
Bent started against West Ham in Villa’s 1-0 defeat last Saturday after missing the final three months of last season through injury which is part of the reason Villa are now winless in their last nine away games.
He’ll be keen to add to his 18 goals in 38 appearances for the home side and is 11/2 to score first or 15/8 to score at anytime for the Villains.