Aston Villa arrived at a rocking Villa Park with a title-chase carrot dangling in front of them and an 11-game home winning run acting like a velvet rope: you do not get past it unless you are special. Everton, patched up and short on numbers but long on nerve, tore that rope down. And this was no smash-and-grab either, it was the continuation of a trend: since January 2025, Everton’s away record has been the best in the league alongside Arsenal, a statistic that speaks to a side increasingly comfortable playing in hostile territory. Thierno Barry’s predatory finish just before the hour and a stubborn, streetwise defensive display sealed a 1-0 away victory that felt far bigger than the scoreline.
There was an immediate warning that this was not going to be the usual Villa Park script. Everton nearly scored straight from kick-off. Jordan Pickford went long, Barry helped it on, and Merlin Röhl bundled through into a shooting position inside the area. His effort clinked off the inside of the post after barely 11 seconds, the kind of sound that makes a stadium collectively inhale. Villa survived the early wobble, but the tone was set: Everton were here to be the more dangerous team, and they looked it from the first breath.
Villa’s first big opening arrived quickly. Emiliano Buendía wriggled free and drove into space with options, Ollie Watkins screaming for the obvious pass, but Buendía picked out Morgan Rogers instead. Rogers had a clean sight of goal around 12 yards out and ballooned it over, a chance that will have replayed in his head long after the final whistle.
From there, Villa had more of the ball and more of the territory. Everton, though, were compact and disciplined, happy to let Villa stroke it around in non-lethal areas while they protected the middle and hunted moments to spring. James Garner and Röhl worked tirelessly to shut lanes, while Nathan Patterson and Vitaliy Mykolenko stayed tight enough to Villa’s wide threats that crosses rarely arrived “clean”.
The match’s first major swing came in the 18th minute when Villa captain John McGinn, already nursing a knock after a brief delay, was forced off. Evann Guessand replaced him, but the loss of McGinn’s bite and leadership was more than just a substitution. It jarred Villa’s rhythm, and it left an already stretched group looking even lighter on solutions.
Everton grew into the contest and, crucially, looked the sharper side when the game broke into moments. Mykolenko tested Emi Martínez with a firm strike from distance, forcing the goalkeeper to save, and the visitors thought they had taken the lead soon after from a short-corner routine. Jake O’Brien rose to power a header home, but the goal was ruled out after Harrison Armstrong, in an offside position, was deemed to be interfering. Villa Park roared the reprieve; Everton looked like a side that has learned not to sulk, simply to keep knocking.
The late first-half spell turned chaotic in the best way. Villa threatened in waves, with Rogers forcing a flying save out of Pickford from distance and Guessand crashing a looping header against the crossbar from a teasing delivery. In between, Everton remained a nuisance, snapping into tackles and trying to turn Villa’s attacking ambition into transition moments the other way. It was goalless at the break, but Everton had already shown they carried the more pointed threat when the game opened up.
The second half began with Villa probing again, Youri Tielemans’ header drifting wide, and Watkins having an effort blocked as Everton’s centre-backs threw themselves into everything. The game had that familiar Villa Park feel, the home side turning the screw, the crowd waiting for the moment when pressure becomes payoff.
Then, in the 59th minute, Villa’s afternoon cracked on a single, ugly seam and Everton were ruthless. A simple passage turned into a catalogue of errors. A loose touch and a lapse in concentration handed Everton a sight of goal, Dwight McNeil’s left-footed shot was saved but not held by Martínez, and Barry reacted faster than everyone. The finish was wonderfully cheeky: a calm dink from close range, lifted into the top-right corner, the kind of touch that belongs to players who treat panic like background noise.
Villa’s response was immediate in intent, if not in precision. They pushed bodies forward, played higher, and tried to summon that late surge they’ve made a habit of at home. But Everton’s back line was in no mood to collapse. Tarkowski marshalled the middle with bruising authority, O’Brien kept finding blocks at key moments, and Pickford was excellent when he had to be, claiming crosses, punching clear under pressure, and producing another standout save when Rogers finally connected properly from range, tipping the shot away at full stretch.
As the clock ran down, Villa’s final-third quality deserted them. Buendía saw a shot blocked, Digne’s drive was saved, and chances came with a rushed feel, like Villa were trying to force the door with one shoulder rather than finding the key. In stoppage time, Buendía had a late header from a Tielemans cross and glanced it wide, the last flicker of hope dying quietly in the cold air.
There was spice, too. Early in the second half, Garner was booked, and moments before Everton’s goal there were loud appeals from Villa that he should have conceded a foul on the edge of the box, potentially putting him at risk of a second yellow. The referee, Tony Harrington, waved play on. Everton rode the moment, then landed the punch.
When the whistle went, Villa Park felt stunned, not furious, as if the stadium couldn’t quite believe the fortress had finally been breached. Everton had become the first side to win there since August, snapping Villa’s long home winning streak and handing a significant blow to their pursuit of the very top.
There was a subplot worth its own film reel: Jack Grealish back at Villa Park again, pulling on an Everton shirt this time and playing with the kind of edge that comes with history in the stands. At full time he acknowledged the home support, and it all added another layer to a match already thick with narrative.
David Moyes, understandably delighted, called it “magnificent” and spoke about the work Everton put into finding a way to combat Villa, admitting that without a plan they would have been “in trouble” at a ground like this. He also looked pleased that Everton had survived the earlier disappointment of the disallowed O’Brien header and still found the composure to win the game at the decisive moment.
Unai Emery, by contrast, sounded more frustrated than theatrical. He described the defeat as a missed opportunity and, in a striking assessment of where his side truly sits, suggested they are “still not being contenders”, pointing to other teams having “more potential” and stressing the need to regain balance after a setback that exposed how fine Villa’s margins can become when injuries bite.
On the pitch, the numbers told the same story as the eye. Villa had the majority of possession, more attempts, and spent long spells camped in Everton territory. But Everton were the side with the clearer threat in the key passages, defended the box like it was sacred ground, and when Villa offered them a gift, they accepted it without hesitation.
Aston Villa’s lineup was Emi Martínez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen (Lucas Digne 73); Lamare Bogarde (George Hemmings 73), Youri Tielemans; John McGinn (Evann Guessand 18), Emiliano Buendía, Morgan Rogers; Ollie Watkins.
Everton’s was Jordan Pickford; Nathan Patterson, Jake O’Brien, James Tarkowski, Vitaliy Mykolenko; James Garner, Merlin Röhl; Harrison Armstrong, Jack Grealish, Dwight McNeil; Thierno Barry (Beto 84).
Key moments came fast and stayed memorable: Röhl off the post after 11 seconds, Rogers blazing over early when he should have hit the target, Guessand rattling the bar, Everton’s disallowed header, then the decisive chain of mistakes and Barry’s ice-cold dink to win it.
In the end, Villa had the ball, the crowd and the context, but Everton had the edge where it counts: more bite in the big moments, a goalkeeper who shut the door when Villa finally found the angle, and a striker who turned one messy rebound into a clean, precious away win.
