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Everton back on track with handsome win over Villa

Lyndon Lloyd , 18 October, 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
Everton 3 - 0 Aston Villa

Ross Barkley made a welcome return to the line-up after missing the first two months of the season.

Everton won at Goodison Park for the first time in the Premier League this season as they put Aston Villa to the sword with a convincing performance.

Roberto Martinez was able to field three valuable players who have been missing through injury recently, with James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman, and Ross Barkley all named in the starting line-up, and they contributed to a display that was much more like the Blues of last season.

Barkley, seeing his first action of the campaign after recovering from a knee ligament injury, slotted seamlessly back into the "№ 10" role behind Romelu Lukaku and weighed in with an assist for the Belgian that put Everton two goals to the good early in the second half.

Martinez's side had gone into the interval 1-0 up thanks to Phil Jagielka's third goal in five games for club and country. The defender popped up in the six-yard box with 17 minutes gone to power home a header from Leighton Baines's cross following a short corner routine as Everton pressed home their dominance.

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Coleman came closest to doubling the lead late in the first half but Brad Guzan turned his left-footed effort around the far post.

The American was less assured three minutes into the second period, though, when he allowed Lukaku's low shot from the angle to squirm under his body and cross the line to make it 2-0.

Though Villa moved the ball around well at times and enjoyed a couple of strong spells during the match, they were well marshalled by the home defence. Christian Benteke had the ball in the net after 55 minutes but his effort was ruled out for a push on the assured Antolin Alcaraz and Tim Howard would foil Gabriel Agbonlahor later in the half with a good save but the other American 'keeper's clean sheet was rarely threatened.

Everton led 3-0 by that stage, though — the goal coming from a quickly-taken free kick and another excellent cross by Baines that was turned in from close range in predatory fashion by Coleman.

It set the seal on a collective effort that was very reminiscent of some of last season's dominant home victories and moves the Blues away from the bottom three and up to 12th in the table for the time being.

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