Here are your Everton evening headlines for Saturday, February 26.
Pundit left baffled by Everton penalty decision as Peter Walton claims 'optical illusion'
A decision to award Aston Villa a penalty against Everton on a Saturday left the BT Sport panel in disagreement over whether the call should have stood.
Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot in the 63rd minute when Idrissa Gueye was adjudged to have tripped John McGinn in the penalty area.
Villa's Ollie Watkins, who just moments earlier had been prevented from giving the visitors the lead when his header was brilliantly kept out by Jordan Pickford, converted from the spot, as Unai Emery's side went on to win 2-0, but there was disagreement in the television studio over whether the original on-field decision should have stood.
READ MORE: Everton haunted by board failures and six unused players just proved it against Aston Villa
READ MORE: Sean Dyche gives bleak Dominic Calvert-Lewin update after Everton lose to Aston Villa
Everton's defeat was their first at Goodison Park under Sean Dyche, who now has two wins and two defeats from his first four matches in charge of the Blues. Victory for Leeds against Southampton elsewhere has put the Blues back in the relegation zone on Saturday evening, a point behind their Yorkshire rivals.
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Sean Dyche gives Everton hope as worrying goal statistic emerges
With long-suffering Evertonians requiring a timely pick-me-up at a sobering moment when they’re left wondering just who is going to get the goals to keep their side up, they should seek solace that if anyone is going to dig them out of this hole then Sean Dyche really is the man.
Stick with me here, all will be explained in good time as this correspondent tries to offer a ray of sunshine akin to the striking beams that peeped through low in the late winter sky above Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon, sometimes making it difficult for players and spectators alike to see what was in front of them. Unfortunately, after a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa that returned Everton to the bottom three after a reprieve of just a week, all that many Blues can see ahead right now is the terrifying spectre of the prospect of going down to the Championship.
Everton were the better side for the first hour of play, carving out the better opportunities but after the visitors went ahead courtesy of a contentious penalty decision and the hosts were forced to chase the game, they were unable to offer anything in reply. So just what crumbs of comfort can be offered up right now for a success-starved supporter base being fed an attrition diet of goals?
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READ NEXT
- Everton haunted by board failures and six unused players just proved it against Aston Villa
- Everton player ratings as Idrissa Gueye rash and seven others poor against Aston Villa
- Sean Dyche names Everton signing who is 'growing back into a very good player'
- Sean Dyche gives bleak Dominic Calvert-Lewin update after Everton lose to Aston Villa
- Unai Emery reveals what he told Aston Villa squad about Everton as 'plan' works
