Aston Villa 0 Everton 1: Title hopes hit as Unai Emery's team stunned at home

“THIS IS CRUCIAL,” wrote Emery in his programme notes.

The significance of the defeat, therefore, should not be downplayed.

Villa don’t lose at home and they don’t lose to Everton. The fact they did both at the same time has done serious damage to the title hopes Emery, big print message not withstanding, claims he is not thinking about. 

His team’s first home defeat since August and only their second at home in the Premier League for the last 17 months leaves them seven points behind leaders Arsenal.

Thierno Barry’s 59th minute goal, after mistakes in quick succession by Pau Torres and Emi Martinez, earned Everton a first win over Villa in 14 attempts since the latter won promotion back to the top flight in 2019.

The result, which ended a run of 11 straight home wins in all competitions, saw Emery’s team miss the chance to go up to second in the table. It also left them suddenly lacking momentum heading into what was always going to be, from a travel perspective, their busiest week of the season.

Villa go to Turkey to play Fenerbahce on Thursday night before going to Newcastle next Sunday.

They may well do so without John McGinn, who left the pitch after just 18 minutes here after sustaining what appeared to be a knee injury.

While defeat was certainly not “crucial” in terms of Villa’s primary aim of securing Champions League football for next season, any long-term absence for the skipper has the potential to be.

Emery, already without Boubacar Kamara, is suddenly looking at a thinning squad and much as the decision to allow Donyell Malen to leave might have been rooted in logic, you wonder whether the manager might regret letting it happen before a replacement was in the building. 

Instead of being an option for Emery to call on in the second half as Villa sought a leveller, Malen was netting on his Roma debut at Torino.

With Evann Guessand having been summoned early to replace McGinn, Emery had no attacking changes to make, with Jadon Sancho also absent due to illness.

Martinez had sufficiently recovered from his calf injury to return to the starting XI but the keeper was almost picking the ball out of the net after just 11 seconds.

Jordan Pickford, his opposite number, launched the ball forward and hesitation from Pau Torres allowed it to bounce into the path of Rohl, whose miscued first-time shot hit the post before rebounding into the grateful arms of the Villa keeper.

There was no excuse for the home side not to be awake after that and Rogers, making his 100th appearance for the club, should have given them the lead when Buendia escaped down the left and found him 12 yards out. The finish was lifted well over the bar.

Rogers threatened again when he skipped into the box from the right but was unable to either shoot or pick out a team-mate.

Ian Maatsen then fired straight at Pickford from distance after Villa’s quick closing down had won possession deep in the Everton half but it was the extra effort from McGinn, jumping in to block Jack Grealish's pass, which led to the skipper making an early exit.

Guessand, his replacement, passed up a glorious chance to open the scoring when he latched on to Tielemans’ perfectly placed through ball but failed to make any kind of connection with the finish.

The loss of McGinn, however, had knocked Villa off their stride and there were sighs of relief when Jake O’Brien headed in James Garner's cross only for celebrations to be cut short by a raised flag. Replays confirmed Harrison Armstrong had been offside when the cross was delivered.

Villa almost immediately made Everton’s disappointment worse when Maatsen got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Rogers. O’Brien was in the perfect place to block the shot behind at close range.

Rogers was then denied again when, having been left unmarked 20 yards out at the corner, he collected Tielemans’ pass and drove in a powerful shot which Pickford saved diving to his right.

Tielemans was looking Villa’s most likely creator and a well-placed cross gave Guessand the chance to loop a header over Pickford and off the face of the bar.

There was still a scrappiness to Villa’s play and they continued to play in first and spurts, Tielemans sending a header wide of goal from Cash’s cross. 

Frustration was growing toward referee Tony Harrington, particularly when he failed to penalise Garner for what appeared a fairly blatant shove on Rogers, which may have resulted in a second yellow card for the Everton man.

The visitors were carrying an occasional threat but just before the hour mark they were given a big helping hand to take the lead. 

Torres miscontrolled, allowing McNeil to steal possession. Even then Martinez should have done better with what was not a particularly well struck shot. Instead he dropped the ball into the path of Barry, whose chipped finish just about escaped Konsa’s acrobatic effort to keep it out.

Rogers’ afternoon continued to be maddening as he saw a close range effort blocked and then, seconds later, lifted a shot over the bar from 12 yards out.

When he then did get a shot on target, he found Pickford in the way, the keeper back peddling furiously to tip a dipping strike over the bar.

That was the last big chance as Villa lost composure in the final stages, hunting a goal which looked less likely the longer the evening progressed.

Teams

Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen (Digne 73), Bogarde (Hemmings 73), Tielemans, McGinn (Guessand 18), Rogers, Buendia, Watkins Subs not used: Lindelof, Digne, Garcia, Mings, Hemmings, Jimoh-Aloba, Wright (gk), Bizot (gk).

Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, O’Brien, Mykolenko, Rohl, Garner, McNeil, Armstrong, Grealish, Barry (Beto 84) Subs not used: Dibling, Coleman, Aznou, Welch, Campbell, King (gk), Travers (gk).