Everton faced off against Aston Villa at Villa Park earlier tonight looking to secure their first away victory of this campaign. The home side were threatening on the counter and broke the Toffees defence down in the 21st minute when Jota played an inch-perfect through pass which put Wesley Moraes through on goal, and the Villa new signing made no mistake from close range. Marco Silva’s men tried to come up with a response before half-time, but their efforts were in vain.
The visitors created some excellent goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, but they were wasteful in the final third. Anwar El Ghazi came off the bench to clinch all three points for the Villans when he scored in the dying embers of the contest. The match finished with the final scoreline of 2-0 in favour of the West Midlands outfit.
Let’s take a look at how each Everton player performed during the match against the Villans.
GK: Jordan Pickford – 5/10
The English goalie couldn’t do much about the first goal as he was beaten by Wesley Moraes’ early finish. However, he could have done far better when attempting to save El Ghazi’s shot in injury time.
RB: Seamus Coleman – 4/10
The Toffees skipper crumbled under pressure and was lacklustre going forward. He will be hoping for better days in the Premier League.
CB: Michael Keane – 4/10
Keane was a passenger at times as he struggled to cope with Wesley Moraes’ pace and power while defending the Villa goal. It was a night to forget for the Toffees centre-half.
CB: Yerry Mina – 6/10
He was a threat in the air during set-pieces and made a few crucial blocks to deny the home side. However, Mina was at fault for Aston Villa’s opening goal as he failed to get back in time to block Wesley’s goal-bound shot.
LB: Lucas Digne – 6/10
Jota caused a lot of problems for him at the back. However, the French full-back was once again a reliable outlet for the Merseyside club down the left flank.
CM: Morgan Schneiderlin – 4/10
The former Manchester United midfield ace struggled to cope with the pace and intensity of Dean Smith’s men on the counter.
CM: André Gomes – 4/10
The Portuguese talent gave away the ball cheaply at times and looked like a player out of form. He was also careless when he failed to track El Ghazi’s run. The Villa substitute made no mistake in putting the contest to bed in injury-time.
RM: Richarlison – 4/10
The Brazilian talent made a decent start to the encounter but failed to make a positive impact in the final third. He is a player low on confidence, and it showed during his performance tonight.
CAM: Gylfi Sigurdsson – 4/10
The Icelandic international failed to create any meaningful openings going forward. He struggled to get himself going and was rightfully subbed at the hour mark.
LM: Bernard – 5.5/10
The Brazilian prospect was Marco Silva’s best bet to score a goal in the first half. However, his influence in the game faded as the game progressed, so the Everton boss decided to replace him in the 61st minute.
ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 3/10
The Toffees starlet squandered his team’s best chance of the game in the first half when his shot was cleared off the lines. He was toothless in the final third for the remainder of the match.
Substitutes:
LM: Alex Iwobi – 6/10
The ex-Arsenal winger brought some energy to the Everton attack and was unfortunate not to have scored when his attempt hit the woodwork.
ST: Moise Kean – 6/10
The youngster worked hard for his team and ran the channels well to stretch the Villans backline. However, he lacked the cutting edge inside the Villa penalty box.
RM: Theo Walcott – 4/10
The English speedster got a golden chance to score, but he blasted his shot well over the bar.
