Aston Villa 0 – 1 Everton
Aston Villa were the hosts for Everton on the road in the Premier League at Villa Park this afternoon. And they set the mood with Rohl hitting the post inside 12 seconds. Jake O’Brien scored a perfectly good goal, disallowed by linesman and VAR, before Barry produced an exquisite finish for the only goal of the game.
Jack Grealish returns from his double yellow card suspension while Thierno Barry is also back in the starting line-up. They replace Tyler Dibling and Beto, while Seamus Coleman returns on the bench.
Michael Keane is still suspended; Branthwaite and Dewsbury-Hall are getting closer to returning, while Tim Iroegbunam remains sidelined by injury.
First Half
Everton in primrose and navy kicked off, and Merlin Rohl stabs at the ball, beats Martinez and hits the post! Everton came forward again, Mykolenko invited by Grealish to cross the ball in, but Martinez was awake to it and denied Barry.
McNiel fouled Buendia, but Villa played it short but Buendia skipped away from McNiel, Rogers scooping his cross over the Everton bar. A very clear warning shot.
Any touch on a Villa player earned a free-kick, Garner with the third on Tielemans, Rodgers almost dribbling in. Cash then touched Grealish and Everton got a free-kick. But Villa were building possession, helped when O’Brien gifted them the ball. Rohl then did the same, Maatsen’s shot smothered by Pickford.
Everton tried to pass it around but the Villa press was all over them, forcing Grealish back. McGinn went down, clutching his knee, replaced by Guessand.
Barry won a Pickford punt and it saw Villa concede a corner, Garner delivering to the far post but it was easily cleared. McNeil and Patterson drove down the right but Patterson’s cross was ballooned high for Marticnz to gather. But Everton pressed and Barry won Everton another corner. Again beyond the far post ans Grealish could not penetrate the crowd with his shot.
Everton were pressing high again but Buendia looked to break out and McNeil had to tug his shirt at the cost of an early yellow card. Still, Everton looked to be getting more of the ball and passing it around… until Tarkowski gave it away.
A good turnover saw Everton push forward again but Grealish’s shot was blocked. Tarkowski forced a turnover and played it early to Barry who totally lacked the physicality needed to protect the ball and was easily humbled.
Tielemans [picked out a brilliant ball forward to Guessand but Mykolenlo did enough to put him off and Pickford gathered. Rohl did well to drive forward, Mykolenko getting a rare shot on target.
From the corner, taken short, Jake O’Brien scored off Mykolenko’s cross but Armstrong was flagged offside but never touched the ball. Another astounding VAR decision to uphold the linesman’s wrong call — any reason to deny a goal.
At the other end, O’Brien had to block a close shot from Wilkins, and Rodgers also had a pop from the corner, Villa keeping up the pressure until Pickford could take control.
An extended Everton attack should have yielded something but didn’t. A long throw by O’Brien was allowed to bounce all the way through to Martinez.
Tielemans picked out Guessand and Pickford could only stare at his looping header as it sailed over him and smacked off the bar. Pickford them fummbed the corner, giving away another.
Grealish tried again but could not get his shot past Cash but won a corner. The corner back to Mykolenko was a total waste, but ended up with another long throw from O’Brien, that only saw Villa break forward before they fouled O’Brien.
Despite some shaky moments, it had been a half of remarkable promise from the severly depelted Blues who should have gone in one or two goals to the good.
Second Half
Garner committed a foul to stop Buendia breaking at speed: yellow card. After some more contentious refereeing, Villa get forward, Tarkowski with a key block before Tielemans headed wide.
Villa were pushing forward with some intensity, which Armstrong lacked when asked to clear. Everton finally worked the ball forward through Armstrong and Grealish but Garner’s shot from 30 yards was simply ridiculous nonsense.
O’Brien did well to marshall Guessand away from the Everton goal. Bogarde cuts down Grealish. Garner had toi chase Rodgers but kept his hands off him until into the dee, when he clearly pushed him from behind. Referee must have seen it but did not want to give Garner a second yellow, so turned an incredible blind eye.
From a Torres error, McNeil saw his chance to do something, curling his shot but Martinez parries it wide and Thierno Barry was sharp as a knife, dinking his chip beautifully over Martinez and into the net despite the desperate effort of Konsa to clear it off the line.
The Villains were well cheesed off and tried their best to push up, but O’Brien was not letting them past. Mykolenko tried his hand with the long throw, which bounced off Barry and into the hands of Martinez.
Tielemans came around the back and looked ot score but played it back, Rodgers to shoot but Grealish threw his body down to block the shot away.
Villa pushed up again and Rodgers seemed to walk into a cross before he skied an easier chance. Villa drove forward again and the ball ran through Rodgers’s legs before Garner cleared. But it came right back and Patterson smashed it away behind,
Rodgers with a superb strike toward the top corner saw Pickford launch himself and parry it over in excellent style. Villa kept pressing until a corner was delivered straight to Pickford.
Garner did well to play a deep pass forward for Armstrong to just keep in and cross… but where the hell was Barry?? No one there to finish what would have been a killer goal.
It became scrappy as Moyes relied on the starting XI to keep the Villains at bay, into the final 15 minutes. Hemmings strode forward but his shot was blocked and cleared.
Rodgers tried to skip his way through but tripped and fell over. Buendia drove his shot into Tarkowski. Digne got in the act, his cross causing havoc but his follow-up high kick was straight to Pickford. Beto on for Barry.
Villa seemed to lose a little cohesion, making some embarrassing errors for a Top 4 side as the minutes ticked by and they looked less and less like scoring. Beto drove forward but failed to play it across for Armstrong and ended up fumbling the ball behind for a goal-kick.
Into 4 minutes of added time and Everton’s turn to push up, McNeil awarded a free-kick, Garner working hard to keep the ball and win another.
Tielemans produced an excellent cross that was headed just wide of Pickford’s far post and Villa had no answer in the end.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen (71′ Digne), Bogarde [Y:56′] (71′ Hemmings) , Tielemans, McGinn (18′ Guessand), Rogers, Buendia, Watkins.
Subs not Used: Bizot, Wright, Lindelof, Garcia, Mings, Jimoh-Aloba.
Everton: Pickford; Mykolenko, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Patterson; Garner [Y:47′], Rohl, Armstrong, Grealish, Barry (83′ Beto), McNeil [Y:23′].
Subs not Used: Travers, King, Coleman, Aznou, Campbell, Welch, Dibling.