Aston Villa registered their first win of the season in front of an encouraging home support on Friday after beating Everton 2-0.
The game started with Everton pushing Aston Villa in the final third. Even though Villa were on the back foot for most of the opening 20 minutes, it was in fact the home side who struck first after weathering the early storm.
Record signing, Wesley, struck first after an inviting through ball from fellow new boy, Jota. The Spaniard collected the ball from Guilbert, and then played a sumptuous pass through Mina, onto Wesley, who slotted it past a helpless Jordan Pickford.
The Lions side challenged the Toffees on the front foot for the remaining time in the first half. Andre Gomes made errors frequently in the middle of the park, and Schneiderlin hardly made an impact, which Villa took advantage of. The home side went into the break on the front foot, 1-0 up, which buoyed the home support further
Everton came out of the break with more fire in their belly. Controlling the possession in the second half, with 67%, they created openings, but couldn’t land the telling blow and equalise.
Calvert-Lewin missed a golden chance in the opening half and was quiet throughout. Richarlison ran up and down with no end product. Sigurdsson was a ghost of his former self, which resulted in him being subbed off early in the second half to make way for new boy Alex Iwobi. The Nigerian came close to scoring, and could only hit the bottom of the post.
Theo Walcott, who was also a second-half substitution, should have scored, blowing a shot over the crossbar with five minutes to go from ten yards out, unchallenged.
This was Everton’s best chance of the match to draw level. Instead, Aston Villa scored again, through Anwar El Ghazi in second-half stoppage time. John McGinn played the ball through which initially looked like it was for Jack Grealish. Instead, the Dutch winger snapped up the ball, played it through Gomes’ legs and then through Pickford’s legs to make the win just that little bit more emphatic.
The first three points for the season are important for any side. However, you felt it really lifted the pressure valve off Villa Park when the final whistle went. With fellow promoted teams, Norwich and Sheffield, notching wins already this campaign, the burden was felt pre-game for Villa, but that has been released now.
Aston Villa travel to Crystal Palace for another winnable game this coming weekend. However, the Eagles are coming off an impressive win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Man of the Match: Jota (Aston Villa)
