Live Blog
90+5’ – Final whistle from Tony Harrington, Everton win 1-0 at Aston Villa!!
90+4’ – Armstrong backs off too far and Konsa finds Tielemans, his deep cross is met by Buendia but the header is quite wide.
We are at 94 minutes played here.
90+3’ – Rogers tripled up on and loses the ball, petulantly tugs Garner back. England manager Thomas Tuchel apparently came to watch Rogers, but will leave impressed by Garner.
90+2’ – McNeil jumps in and wins a freekick on the edge of the attacking third, and the clock ticks on relentlessly.
Villa lead the league in gaining points from losing positions.
89’ – Rohl doing very well in the middle in taking the ball away from the backline and relieving the presure, wins a freekick. He has been pretty good today. Still don’t love how long he takes on the ball, but his effort has been solid.
Just the four minutes to be added on here.
87’ – Deep cross into the Everton box, Myko and Guessand duel and the latter puts it out, goalkick.
84’ – Everton make their first substitution, with goalscorer Thierno Barry coming off for Beto.
80’ – Buendia turns McNeil and runs away.. Tarky steps up and now McNeil can go the other way. Lovely ball into space for Barry who slips and falls on this greasy surface. Ooof.
Crosses going left and right across the Everton box, Digne tries a scissor-kick from a narrow angle, straight at Pickford.
79’ – Rogers barges into the Everton box again but is losing his footing and the Blues can clear.
75’ – Garner plays Armstrong in down the right inside channel, the youngster’s low cross into the box is cleared.
72’ – Villa pressing the Blues now, cross pings around, off JOB’s thigh, and Patto clears for a corner.
Cleared, falls to a Villa player outside the box, shot goalbound.. and Pickford soars across to make a stunning save!
Resulting corner is from the Villa sub Digne who we all know so well, cleared for another corner. That one is well-taken by Pickford and the pressure is relieved, for now.
70’ – Promising attack with numbers but once again Rohl takes too long on the ball. Really needs to get that sorted out.
69’ – Low cross from Maatsen, Watkins shot blocked by Tarky – crowd want a penalty, of course, but his arm was in a natural position and VAR check is good for the Blues.
66’ – Rohl lucky to not join the ranks of the booked here, had his studs on the back of Maatsen’s leg.
Brilliant tackle from behind to retrieve and distribute the ball by Garner. Perfectly timed.
65’ – Rogers blazes a shot from inside the box over, Grealish was doing his due defensive dilligence there.
60’ – GOALLLLLLL!!!! Deep ball into the Villa half, Konsa’s clearance blocked by Barry, comes to Torres whose touch is awful and hands the ball over to McNeil. He tries a curling left footer that Martinez saves, but can’t hold, and Barry pounces and chip sit over the goalie and in at the far post!!!
VAR is NOT taking this one away from the Toffees, Everton lead 1-0 at Villa Park.
58’ – Garner’s freekick is poor and cleared, and then he can’t keep the return ball in.
56’ – Grealish gets away from Bogarde who hacks him down and will get booked, first Villa booking of the afternoon.
Now Rogers charges through the middle, Garner lets him go knowing he’s on a booking, but slows down and allows Garner to come in and nick the ball with Everton defenders converging. Blues counter, and Grealish fouled.
53’ – Shooting chance for Garner, blazed over.
Neat passing triangles until Rohl overhits his pass, urgh.
50’ – Villa get a cross into the box, Tielemans unmarked heads wide. Phew.
48’ – Patterson having a decent game here. Been very involved, and making lots of good challenges.
Shooting chance for Watkins, Tarky good block.
46’ – Villa get the second half underway.
Garner tackle from behind as Buendia turns him and gets away, and is booked.
Halftime Thoughts – Everton did all they had to do correctly. They kept their shape, defended well, rode their luck at times and created chances from counter attacks and setpieces. Everything but score (according to VAR), as always.
45+3’ – Halftime whistle goes, all level at Villa Park.
44’ – Grealish shot blocked for a corner. Torres slaps Tarky in the face in the build-up, but no action taken. Corner taken short to Myko on the edge of the box, but his delivery is awful.
Ball comes back to Everton and Tarky on the right, his cross is blocked. JOB long throw, Villa clear. Three or so minutes to be added on here.
42’ – Tielemans deep cross, Guessand beats Myko and his looping header beats Pickford, and comes off the bar! McNeil blocks Maatsen’s cross for a corner.
Into the six-yard box and Pickford bravely punches away for another corner. He crashed into Patterson’s back, but both are okay. Cash again, flicked on but Grealish stabs it away.
39’ – Long ball forward and Torres cannot control, allows Armstrong in, but he can’t get a shot off.
Garner diagonal finds an unmarked Patterson, he wins a throw-in. JOB will take a long ping into the box, no one can get to it and it bounces through to Martinez.
37’ – Rogers shot from in close blocked by JOB for a corner after Maatsen’s run down the Everton right.
The corner taken short, training ground move as Rogers thunders a shot goalwards, Pickford diving punch. Ball back into the box and again Pickford punches away with a strong clearance.
33’ – Good move from Rohl, wins the ball, controls and beats two men, sets Myko up for the shot which is straight at the goalie, but Martinez puts it over.
Taken short, Garner puts the ball in, JOB heads home!! Unchallenged and Martinez nowhere near it!! The offside flag goes up.
VAR review upholds the ruling. Armstrong was certainly offside, but O’Brien behind him was not. Who knows anymore what is or is not offside anymore.
31’ – Tielemans diagonal finds Guessand who got away from Myko, can’t make solid contact with his shot and Pickford takes.
The Holte End gets a laugh at Grealish’s expense as he can’t win a corner in front of them.
30’ – Villa are trying to pass their way out of their half, had a good ball down the middle but Tarky does well to step up and cut it out.
Same move again down the right, this time Garner makes the interception.
n26’ – Villa press and Tarkowski gives the ball away. Now the hosts are passing it around comfortably in the Everton half.
Everton cut out a ball through the middle and Rohl can get away, he finds Grealish who cuts in and sees his shot blocked. Ball is rolling out for a corner, not quick enough though and Armstrong cannot control under pressure from Cash and it’s a goalkick.
23’ – Buendia spins McNeil and gets away in the middle, McNeil recovers but tugs him back anyway, yellow card.
21’ – Buendia loses the ball in the midfield and Everton can attack, Barry’s cross blocked for a corner on the right. McNeil to take, hit deep, Grealish volleys it into the mass of players and cleared.
Armstrong catches Bogarde in possession, his through ball is wasted by Barry whose first touch wasn’t great.
20’ – NcNeil and Patterson combine down the right, flighted cross from the latter taken by Martinez with Barry close.
19’ – Barry’s header across the box is attempted to be headed back to Martinez from Cash, but goes out for a corner. Garner from the Everton left, Martinez shoves Grealish away as the ball comes in, Everton can’t get a definitive touch.
15’ – Possession is 67%-33% to the hosts. McGinn has been down with what looks like a knee injury, and he’s going off for Guessand who has just returned from AFCON.
10’ – Villa playing around the Everton press and looking for the deep ball behind the back line to Watkins, Blues staying disciplined for now.
Everton win the ball and play through the middle, Rohl caught in possession and lucky that Maatsen’s shot is straight at Pickford. He does take a full second on the ball too long, which is something the Premier League can be unforgiving for.
7’ – The initial chorus of boos when Grealish got the ball has faded to a smattering.
A Garner foul in the middle gives Villa a freekick. Taken short and the sequence sees Rogers charge into the box but Rohl does well to clear.
5’ – Patterson falls down and allows Buendia with time behind him, he squares for Rogers who lofts it well over. Lucky.
1’ – Garner gets us started. The most-played fixture in English top flight history.
POST!! Oh my God how Everton is that. Pickford pumped Garner’s ball forward, Barry’s knockdown fell to Rohl and he stabbed the ball past Martinez, and it came back off the upright!
Starting Lineups
Everton – Pretty much as expected, though Coleman returns to the matchday squad.
Aston Villa –
Match Preview
Everton are back to Premier League action this weekend, traveling to Aston Villa as the injury hit Blues are looking to get things back on track after picking up just one point in two home games, and then getting knocked out of the FA Cup last weekend.
The duo of Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are still away at AFCON where Senegal plays in the final against hosts Morocco today. Tim Iroegbunam has joined the ranks of the injured picking up a groin issue. They will get Jack Grealish back after his one-game red card suspension, and he will be returning to a familiar ground at Villa Park where he made his name.
Aston Villa had a remarkable winning streak that saw them come from way down in 19th when Everton played them in the first month of the season, and climbed up the table all the way up to third where they have been for a few weeks now as they are in a position to overhaul Manchester City and go second now.
Match Details
Competition: Premier League Matchweek 22
Date and start time: Sunday, January 18th at 8:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m ET / 4:30 p.m. BST
Stadium: Villa Park, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Capacity: 42,640
Weather: 46°F/8°C, light rain, 25% chance of precipitation, 5 mph winds
How to Watch/Listen
TV: USA Network, Telemundo – United States; Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Ultra HD – United Kingdom; Fubo, DAZN Canada – Canada, beIN Sports HD 1, SuperSport Premier League ROA, SuperSport MaXimo 2, Star Sports Select 1
Radio: evertontv, BBC Radio 5 Live, SiriusXM FC
Live stream: Fubo, nbcsports.com, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, Sky GO UK, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Jio Hotstar
Gamethread: There will be a live blog for this game, with our coverage continuing after the final whistle with the match recap and reaction.
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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com
Last Meeting
The two sides had fought out a 0-0 game at Hill Dickinson Stadium earlier in the season. Everton lost both legs against Villa last season, including a 3-2 defeat at Villa Park in September 2024. That was a heartbreaker where the Toffees had jumped into a two-nil lead with goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin after just half an hour, only for the hosts to reel them back in with an Ollie Watkins brace and Jhon Duran nabbing the winner.
