There wasn’t much difference in terms of application than their first two home games under Sean Dyche that had both produced 1-0 victories but fortune didn’t favour Everton on this occasion as a clinical Aston Villa secured a 2-0 win despite the hosts dominating proceedings for the first hour.
The Blues have of course found goals difficult to come by all season and although this wasn’t quite as one-sided as the tense Leeds United contest at Goodison Park seven days earlier, they’d crafted the lion’s share of opportunities before the balance of the game swung with a penalty decision.
Referee Anthony Taylor had already incurred the wrath of the home faithful with a clutch of contentious decisions and when John McGinn went down under a challenge from Idrissa Gueye in the box, the Greater Manchester official had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
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Jordan Pickford – playing his first game since penning a new contract that commits him to a decade of service at Everton – had twice denied Ollie Watkins with good saves either side of the break but the England number one couldn’t keep out his penalty as he went left while the shot was fired into the roof of the net, ensuring the in-form striker has now netted in five games in a row, becoming the first Villa player to do so since Paul Rideout a decade before he became the Blues’ FA Cup match-winner at Wembley.
Dyche was now presented with an altogether different challenge as his team chased a deficit for the first time on home turf and while he tried to turn the tide with substitutions, Villa substitute Emiliano Buendia – who grabbed the only goal of the game in the corresponding fixture last season – struck at Goodison again with a composed finish on the counter-attack.
Dyche has cautioned before last weekend’s fixtures that the prospect of moving out of the bottom three against Leeds United didn’t mean that Everton were safe and after dropping back into the relegation zone with this result as both West Ham United and Leeds – now with new manager Javi Gracia in place – both winning, there is still much to do in the week ahead as the Blues face back-to-back away matches against Arsenal and a Nottingham Forest side that will be determined to bounce back after capitulating against David Moyes’ men in the capital.
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