Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins scored a penalty and Emiliano Buendia added a second goal as they beat Everton 2-0 in a frenetic Premier League encounter at Goodison Park on Saturday to leave the home side in the bottom three.
Despite dominating the game for long spells, Everton could not fashion a goal and is now 18th in the table on 21 points, above Bournemouth on goal difference, while Villa is 11th on 31 points.
The best chance of a high-energy first half fell to Everton, with Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez forced into a superb reflex save to deny Amadu Onana’s header in the 34th minute.
With Villa pinned back in its own half and struggling to pass the ball out from the back, Everton went even closer in the 54th minute as Tyrone Mings was forced to clear the ball off the line after a goal-mouth scramble.
Watkins went close with a header before Villa were awarded a penalty in the 61st minute when McGinn was upended in the box by Idrissa Gueye. Watkins stepped up and smashed the spot kick past Jordan Pickford to break the deadlock.
Everton poured forward in search of an equaliser but it was punished when Buendia collected a pass from John McGinn and lashed a shot inside the near post in the 81st minute to secure the win for Villa.
