After the romance of the return, the reality. David Moyes had never given up hope that Everton would summon him back but after the years of dreaming, the three or four times he came close to the job, the night he was told he had it, only to be informed the following morning it was instead going to Carlo Ancelotti, the homecoming lacked the happiness he wanted.
Rather, it reflected the plight that made Everton send for Moyes. Aston Villa arrived at Goodison Park having lost their previous five away league games. They departed with a victory, earned by Ollie Watkins, that took them level on points with Manchester City. Looking upwards at the Champions League places, they are in the territory Moyes’ Everton used to inherit.
