Barclays Premier League - Half time report: Aston Villa vs Everton 1-0
In their third fixture of the new Premier League season, Everton travelled to Villa park to face a shaken Aston Villa. Earlier, Villa had lost to Rapid Vienna mid week, ending their Europa league dreams in the process. Things are not going to well for the club since the departure of their long serving manager Martin O’Neill.
Last week, Villa got thwarted by newly promoted Newcastle United 6-0 at St James Park, adding insult to injury. Two losses from three fixtures in the new season means problem for the manager-less side, currently taken care of by Kevin McDonald.
Everton also has not had the brightest of starts to their campaign, managing only one point from their opening two fixtures. David Moyes’s men will be looking to extract some retribution from Villa and get back to the top form which enabled them to finish 8th last year.
Starting XI For Aston Villa: Friedel; L Young, Collins, Dunne, Warnock; Downing, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Albrighton, A Young, Carew.
Subs: Agbonlahor, Heskey, Delfouneso, Guzan, Cuellar, Lichaj, Bannan.
Stating XI for Everton: Howard; Hibbert, Distin, Jagielka, Baines; Piennar, Rodwell, Arteta, Cahill, Fellaini; Beckford.
Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Saha, Gueye, Osman, Coleman.
Aston Villa took the early lead, thanks to a superb finish by Luke Young. The defender was expertly set up by Ashley Young, who found himself in front of goal. The player made no mistakes and expertly found the back of the net, giving the goalkeeper absolutely no chance to make a save for it. Aston Villa looked impressive and created various chances for the home fans to cherish. The defending has been extremely good, which is vital if they are to maintain this lead. At the 12th minute, Richard Dunne was penalized for a clumsy challenge, earning the yellow card in the process.
At the 18th minute, South African midfielder, Steven Pienaar took a beautiful shot from distance, which was denied by the post. The game fell into equal balance following that shot as Everton looked to find the equalizing goal. Everton started taking more possession at the half an hour mark, creating various opportunities for themselves.
There were no more goals before half time, as Villa defended fairly well. Everton will need to come back stronger and score the equaliser in order to get atleast one point from this outing. For Villa, the job is simpler, defend the goal and all three points are up for the taking. The goal was absolutely amazing by the defender, whose finishing was remarkable.
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