Ollie Watkins knew Aston Villa were in for a tough afternoon at Goodison Park - and dedicated their win over Everton to the club’s set-pieces coach.
Sean Dyche had won his previous two home games in charge of Everton since replacing the sacked Frank Lampard last month. The Blues beat Arsenal and Leeds United 1-0 on each occasion.
While Villa arrived on Merseyside on the back of three straight defeats, with Dyche’s opposite number, Unai Emery, facing the prospect of losing four successive top-flight matches for the first time in his managerial career.
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However, a penalty from Watkins, who became the first Villa player to score in five consecutive Premier League fixtures as a result of the goal, and a late strike from substitute Emi Buendia secured Emery's men a 2-0 win. Buendia was the match-winner in last season's corresponding clash.
“I think it is always a tough place to come,” Watkins said. “Even last year, we came away with a (1-0) win but it was gritty, we didn’t play great football and we grinded it out.
“I think you know what to expect. There is going to be a lot of pressure and the fans are going to get onto you. You have got to try and silence that, stop the game a little bit and I think we did that.”
While Watkins also admitted, just like his boss Emery did, that Villa had placed an extra focus on defending set-pieces in the build-up to the game.
He said: “Defensively, we haven’t been great on set-pieces in the last two so yeah, we worked hard on that and I think it showed today.
“We were really organised and they tested us defensively quite a lot so credit to the set-piece coach, Austin [MacPhee], unbelievable defensive performance from the boys.”
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