Vital Villa Forum Member TheYank is trying something a little bit different just in case regular readers appreciate it this season.
Hopefully, depending on little old me, he’s going to do a minute by minute account of our Premier League matches to see if fans who didn’t manage to see a game live find it useful, ahead of highlight packages and programmes becoming available.
So over to him.
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Minute – Player – Chance
3rd – Everton corner – Heaton punches well but hits Mings – injury worry here.
5th – Guilbert yellow – Wesley holds up well but needs to move it earlier, causes a turnover and forces Guilbert to pull back the Everton man earning a yellow.
6th – Richarlison breaks into the Villa area and falls too easy under challenge from Grealish.
First 10 minutes a bit scrappy for both sides, Everton with the better of possession and chances however.
11th – Richarlison runs through the entire field with no Villa midfielders tracking him down, he shoots from 25 yards out but Engels blocks out for a corner.
First 12 – a lot of long balls up from the central defenders which is just giving away possession, the villa midfield 3 have been missing in this opening period.
15th – Good movement by Everton building from the back all the way up to Bernard down the right who cuts in but wastes a cross over everyone, very good play though.
19th – better play from Villa by Jota and McGinn, Cross from Guilbert is good but Wesley is in an offside position, more positive though.
20th – beautiful spin and movement by Jota to move the ball up to Wesley, he holds it up with 4 Everton defenders on him, leads to another offside but much better possession play by Villa finally.
21st – beautiful play by Jota through to Wesley who opens his account. Grealish fouled and his quick thinking from the free kick links up with Guilbert who moves it to Jota who drives in from the wing, plays a beautiful through ball to Wesley who slots it into the far corner. Beautiful play.
24th – Villa and Wesley should have a second, another great through ball from Jota puts Wesley in on goal again, but a sliding Yerry Mina blocks the shot.
25th – More positive play leads to Jota chipping it far post to McGinn, but his cross only finds Pickford, much better looking from Villa, the goal has given some confidence.
28th – good hold up from Wesley but if he plays in McGinn he would have done better, tries to put in Trezeguet instead which leads to a turnover.
32nd – Everton should score if not for a brilliant block by Engels, Schneiderlin beautiful ball to Coleman who cuts back for an open shot by Calvert-Lewin 6 yards out.
35th – beautiful back heel by Jota to find Guilbert on the run, he looked to be fouled when attempting a cross, but no foul is given and Pickford has an easy claim.
36th – McGinn wins to Wesley with a great flick to set McGinn away, Wesley plays Jack in to take a shot, but Mina again slides in to block the shot.
37th – Guilbert tries his luck with a shot over the goal, but another good bit of play where Villa have a chance on the counter.
39th – little spell by Everton in the Villa corner, Villa a bit loose in possession trying to get out of our end.
40th – just feel like Villa are tiring a bit at the end of the half here and need to get into the locker room without conceding, bad feeling about the next few minutes.
42nd – Villa do look dangerous on the counter when the break.
43rd – another poor set piece delivery by Grealish this time.
44th – Wesley and Mina come together, Wesley not to be bullied around.
45th – Grealish attempts a curler, another quickly taken free kick to release Trezeguet, he cuts back to jack from the corner of the box but doesn’t curl it enough to trouble Pickford. These quickly taken free kicks are creating dangerous chances though.
Guilbert and Jota have great chemistry and have really created most of Villa’s chances to this point. You’d feel if they’d started against Bournemouth we would have gotten at least a point if not all 3. It’s fair to say they have allowed Bernard a few opportunities with their somewhat lax defense, something to watch, but Villa wouldn’t have the lead without the two of them, and wouldn’t look as dangerous without them.
First Half done – a good half time lead which is deserved based on the run of play. Everton were the better side until the goal by Wesley, but since the Wesley goal, Villa looked the more likely to score.
Second Half
First 5 minutes – nothing much, a couple of breaks by each team that lead to no real chances.
52nd – Calvert-Lewin booked for a foul on Wesley.
54th – Villa sitting back and allowing possession for Everton, good link up leads to the corner which Mina heads over Heaton’s bar.
55th – Wesley another good bit of hold up play leads to Grealish being fouled.
57th – Nice feet by Guilbert to beat a man and play over the top towards Wesley, just a bit heavy with the pass and Pickford is able to claim.
59th – McGinn intercepts and plays a good ball into Trezeguet in the box, he tries to lay off for onrushing Grealish but scuffs the pass allowing Everton to clear.
61st – Iwobi on for Sigurdsson, Moise Kean on for Bernard.
64th – Villa starting to sit back more and allow Everton possession which is poor, they’ve shown ability to boss possession yet aren’t trying to do so now.
The entire second half so far has seen Villa allow Everton to have possession, you feel we aren’t a solid enough defensive team to defend that amount of time behind the ball, need to get a spell of possession and push for a 2nd goal.
71st – Chance for Iwobi from yet more sitting back by Villa – floated to the wing for a first time Digne cutback which Iwobi controls and shoots from.
72nd – great bit of play allows Taylor to cross from inside the 18, he blasts it over everyone, really poor by Taylor.
73rd – good bit of play by Taylor to win a free kick in a good position about 8 yards out of the Everton area on the left, another awful set piece delivery this time by Trezeguet.
76th – nervous moment with 3 failed attempted clearances from a floated cross in by Digne.
77th – Schneiderlin chance off a corner, cleared to him at the top of the 18, he shoots over Heaton’s bar.
78th – Jota off and El Ghazi on – must say this seems the right move as he appeared to tire over the last few minutes – Walcott on for Richarlison.
79th – quickly taken free kick from McGinn gets through to Grealish who plays Wesley down the left, he cuts inside but his shot is blocked.
80th – another attempted quick free kick is blocked by Andre Gomes earning him a yellow card.
81st – Villa should have scored, instead a poor pass from McGinn to Trezeguet sets away Everton, incredible tackle by Guilbert to break up the counter attack.
82nd – Iwobi hits the post, game should be level, a cross is headed back in towards the 6 and Villa allow Iwobi to get it first and shoot across Heaton’s goal.
84th – El Ghazi shot from distance punched away by Pickford.
85th – Yellow card for both Trezeguet and Coleman, Trez is standing in front of a free kick and Coleman kicks out Trezeguets leg trying to get him booked.
86th – Trez off for Elmohamady.
88th – getting to the nervy bit of the game, a few Everton crosses have been deflected for Heaton to come and claim.
90th – Walcott wide open 7 yards out from the Villa goal and his volley is blazed over the net, that is a HUGE miss, really should have equalized. In fairness that shouldn’t have happened as Iwobi undercut Guilbert leading to him being injured. 5 minutes of extra time…
El Ghazi has been offside way too many times, every time he’s looking right down the line and has no business being offside.
94th – Digne chance hit over the bar, Villa chasing shadows and a cross comes in right to the penalty dot, Digne hits it first time over the bar.
95th – Heaton kicks it directly out of bounds, what is he doing?
95th – El Ghazi scores to end the game. Wesley with more amazing hold up play, passes to McGinn who tries to play Grealish but El Ghazi steals it away from Grealish and slots it past Pickford.
3 points for the Villa!
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