I’ll leave you now – but not before sharing tonight’s match report from Villa Park, courtesy of Stuart James:
Thanks for your company – and ice cream recommendations – as ever. See you again soon!
Smith also speaks: “I thought the atmosphere was tremendous under the lights. It was a hard-earned win, they started very brightly but we grew into the game and always looked a threat on the break. To get that goal at the end just capped it off.”
Incredible that Mings had to field a question about criticism of Wesley, whose first two games apparently brought some brickbats from fans. It was referred to constantly in the commentary too. I remember when players used to get a season to adapt to the Premier League, not a fortnight! For a player who had previously played in Belgium and Slovakia, Wesley looked absolutely superb tonight. So any impatient types, let him be – he won’t always be “on”, I’m sure, but he’s clearly got it.
McGinn speaks: “It’s a little bit of a relief. When you spend as much as we’ve spent it’s a relief to get off the mark. We did have that belief we could do something this season. One win doesn’t make a massive difference but it does lift morale and give everyone a good start.”
Mings on Wesley: “It was probably important for him [to score]. Obviously you want to get a goal as quickly as possible, as a striker, and I think it’ll do him the world of good. He does that to me in training all the time.”
Well played, Villa. Everton can point to those late chances for Iwobi and Walcott, and the latter should certainly have equalised. But from the opening goal onwards the hosts were very good, brimming with energy and intent all over the park. Wesley, in only his third Premier League game, was an absolute star leading the line. Mings and Engels did some proper, old-fashioned defending to keep them safe at the back. It was a real shift from everyone and they’ll look to push on from here.
For Everton, huge disappointment after starting the game – and indeed the season – pretty well. They were flat for too long after going behind. Kean and Iwobi did give them a different dimension though so I expect they’ll be looking to integrate them as soon as possible into the starting lineup.
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-0 Everton
And it’s the final action – a huge first win of the season for Villa, and a well deserved one!
Goal! Aston Villa 2-0 Everton (El Ghazi 90+5)
That’ll do it! It comes from more wonderful hold-up play from the outstanding Wesley, who chases a long pass and waits before finding – I think – McGinn, who passes the ball left. El Ghazi is running in, just ahead of his teammate Grealish, and he keeps his cool to slot in the goal that removes any doubt!
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94 min: That’s surely the last chance as Walcott, inside the area on the right, clips a good low cross in for Digne to spin onto. But it’s on his weaker right foot and only a half-chance really. He slices well off target.
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90+2 min: The noise levels have gone up again. Villa are very close now. Everton have had those two big chances with Iwobi and Walcott, and have certainly looked much livelier since the subs, but they just haven’t done enough here overall.
90+1 min: We will have five added minutes.
89 min: What a miss from Walcott! Iwobi slides in Kean, who twists and then delivers towards the far post. It’s a chipped ball that sits perfectly for Walcott to volley home ... but he skies it! That might be Everton’s last big chance!
@NickAmes82 I’ve eaten oysters on the Ile de Re, and ice cream, too, but never both at once. Where was this?
— Ron Stack (@ronstack) August 23, 2019
La Martiniere in Saint-Martin, Ron. Do try it. There’s one near the Phare des Baleines too.
86 min: Now we have handbags, Trezeguet rolling around on the floor after some sort of confrontation with Coleman, who wanted to take a quick set-piece. Both are booked. It was just silliness.
“How clever of Theo Walcott to change his name to ‘Alex Iwobi’ and think we wouldn’t notice,” writes Joe Harvey.
Now the fairly quiet – bar that bit of theatrics – Trezeguet is replaced by his more defensive compatriot, Elmohamady.
84 min: Yes, it’s end to end now. El Ghazi advances and forces Pickford to beat away his 25-yard strike.
82 min: Iwobi hits the post! He’s been a real danger since coming on and, my word, that’s as close as Everton have come. He meets a Keane header sharply on the run, brings the ball down with a superb first touch and then thuds it low off the base of the upright from 15 yards. So unlucky!
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81 min: Ohhh, Grealish weaves into a great position in the box but he just can’t make a chance for Trezeguet. Good work from McGinn set all that up. Villa are starting to get a few glimpses again.
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80 min: A booking for Gomes, who tries to get in the way of a quick Villa free-kick and ends up costing his own team time.
79 min: “While brainstorming weird ice cream flavours (as you do), I once suggested Prawn & Pecan,” says Ed Russell. “It’s catchy, but I’ve never found it on sale anywhere, sadly.”
Ed, you disgust me. I have, in saying that, eaten oyster ice cream on Ile de Re before and it’s actually lovely.
78 min: The excellent Jota is replaced by El Ghazi. And there’s a third Everton change. Remember Theo Walcott? This might just be the promising young forward’s breakthrough year, I reckon, and he’s on for Richarlison.
77 min: I say that but then Mings miskicks after another sweet Digne delivery and Villa have to scramble the ball away for a corner. They are just starting to live a little dangerously, so it’s a good job the corner is cleared out to the relatively harmless Schneiderlin, who curls well over.
75 min: Digne crosses deliciously after combining with Iwobi but Mings, clearly given wings by that Red Bull tonight as he’s been very good, thuds a header clear ahead of two onrushing forwards.
74 min: That reminds me, actually, that Stuart James wrote an excellent primer on Wesley last month.
72 min: Villa aren’t offering much going forward in this half, evidenced by a woeful cross out of play by Taylor there, but Wesley is continuing to hold the ball up very well.
71 min: A sight for Iwobi, now, as Digne pulls the ball back and he has a glimmer of space in the box. He sets himself and hits one, but it deflects up and Heaton is able to catch.
69 min: It just hasn’t gone for Gomes today. He shifts into position a few yards outside the area but seems to lose confidence in the idea of shooting and instead lays the ball right, where Coleman ... isn’t there.
68 min: “Strange ice-cream flavours?” asks Thomas Ireland-Delfs. Yes please, Thomas. “How about rhubarb with sea-buckthorn. Actually quite good here in Aarhus.”
66 min: Kean now makes a rapid dart down the left before finding Iwobi. The move slows down but a corner eventually results from it and there are a few early signs of life from the subs. Mina gets up to meet the flag kick again, and this time his header is deflected not too far wide. From the other side, Digne’s inswinger is headed away well by Mings.
64 min: Not yet, although Iwobi does get the ball in a nice area after a loose Mings pass but Kean can’t read his attempt at a through ball.
62 min: Here’s that double Everton change. Iwobi comes on for his debut in Sigurdsson’s place; Kean enters the fray for Bernard. Will this perk them up?
59 min: Mings is unmarked as he hangs in the air to meet a Grealish free-kick, but his header across goal flicks off a defender – not an arm, despite the crowd’s wails – and into Pickford’s arms. I think we are about to see Kean and Iwobi, by the way.
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58 min: Villa must fancy themselves on the break at this point but Jota, so dangerous when he darts inside, can’t quite put Trezeguet through with pretty much the same pass that sliced Everton open for the goal.
57 min: Did you know Luis Boa Morte is now on Silva’s coaching staff? I didn’t, but the pair are having a long discussion on the bench – perhaps about imminent subs.
55 min: Better from Everton, Digne and Gomes combining to win a corner on the left. Digne flings it in, Mina attacks it well in characteristic fashion, but the header goes over.
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52 min: Ste in NY is, like me, still thinking about ice cream –
“In ice cream related news, just got back from Vermont – Bourbon Brown Butter at the Ben and Jerry’s factory, complete with mini dark chocolate liqueur cups, followed by White Lightning at Bromley Mountain – dark chocolate ice cream with a streak of peppermint. (Think frozen After Eights.) Of course ice cream’s off the menu right now, as it’s Friday afternoon, and time for a Bronx Brewery Double India Pale Ale. 10.1%. Get your own, thish onesh mine.”
When you said “White Lightning” I thought of something very different for a moment.
In non-ice cream news, Calvert-Lewin is booked for going in late on Wesley.
50 min: Everton have begun the half with purpose but, as earlier, scant penetration.
47 min: Sigurdsson looks to play Calvert-Lewin through after a decent move, but it just clips the striker’s heel. There is a lot to like in Calvert-Lewin’s game but will he ever score enough?
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Peeeeep! Off we go again
No changes at the break, which is a slight surprise Everton-wise.
So, back out come the players. Can Everton turn this around? Will Villa get off the mark for the season?
Your half-time reading is this important piece from Paul MacInnes:
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Half-time: Aston Villa 1-0 Everton
Pretty but ultimately toothless from Everton, even if Calvert-Lewin should probably have equalised. Villa did nothing for 20 minutes but then Wesley scored a very smart goal and they’ve been much the better side since, looking a few gears quicker than their opposition. All to play for after the break!
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45 min: Grealish tries to bend one into the far corner but it flies wide. Villa are operating with such purpose now and Everton’s previously solid back line looks very shaky.
44 min: Andre Gomes leathered one out of play a minute ago and has now miscontrolled one out of play. He’s not been quite up to his usual high standards so far. Mine and Wesley have a little exchange of words while we mull over that, requiring a talking-to from Oliver.
41 min: Bernard does show some decent pace to get away down the left, now, but his cross on the stretch is dealt with.
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40 min: Everton have been smart in possession, sure, but perhaps a little one-paced at times. Could we see Kean or Iwobi after the break?
37 min: Guilbert advances in a more central area now and, with the defence backing off, decides to have a pop. A different decision would have been better as it’s well off target. But Villa are looking good now.
36 min: Wesley tees up Grealish well, but his shot is deflected and Pickford manages to stop it dribbling behind.
35 min: Guilbert shows a smart attacking turn of pace but Heaton has little problem taking his cross, which nobody is attacking. Villa have nice speed when they attack.
32 min: Engels saves Villa! A perceptive Schneiderlin ball plays Coleman into space on the right of the area and his first-time lay-off puts it on the plate for Calvert-Lewin. The net seems set to bulge but Engels gets in the way, right in front of the line, and punches the air in celebration. It was as important as a goal, that; and should really have been one for Everton.
30 min: There was, by the way, a pause after the goal while a VAR check took place – even though even I could see it was fine – because football is for pen-pushers, pedants, bores and bureaucrats now.
28 min: Everton look rattled by that; the game had been played entirely in Villa’s half til the goal but now the reverse is true.
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25 min: McGinn drills a low, volleyed cross from the left byline but Pickford gathers. Villa, barely in it for 20 minutes, are a team transformed.
24 min: Villa repeat exactly the same move, Jota playing Wesley through again! It’s a slightly, but not much, harder chance and Wesley delays just long enough for a sliding Mina to get back and block his shot.
Updated
Goal! Aston Villa 1-0 Everton (Wesley 21)
Their first real moment of danger, and their striker’s first goal! Grealish wins a free-kick inside his own half and the ball is worked quickly to Jota. He plays a wonderful reverse pass through to Wesley, who has run across the line and is clearly onside. The finish is low, clinical, and Villa Park erupts! It’s totally against the run of play.
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20 min: Not really; Everton keep up the pressure. But Jota draws applause with a nice little pirouette and move upfield to get them out of a little bother.
19 min: A first sighting of Villa, Wesley heading well over from an offside position. Can they build on that?
18 min: “Mings is a menace!” cries JR in Illinois. “On that first play where he went down in a heap he wasn’t even looking at the ball. He was just trying to knock Calvert-Lewin out of the air. Then he almost kicks his teammates’ head off. Usually it’s opponents’ heads he’s stamping on [that’s a reference to the infamous Ibrahimovic incident] but Engels is going to have to learn to keep his melon away from the floor with Mings around.”
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16 min: Everton look smooth. They advance again into space on the left, with Bernard eventually delivering just above Richarlison’s head at the back post. Guilbert has not had the best debut so far at right-back.
14 min: Villa really haven’t got into this at all yet. They cede possession again. It’s all a little rushed and direct from them.
12 min: It almost brings a goal, Sigurdsson floating it to the edge of the box for Digne to volley. It’s blocked and then Mings has to get in the way of Keane’s close-range follow-up. There was an offside in there somewhere, it turns out.
11 min: Yes, Engels is back and is ready to make his marx, etcetera. He actually does, sort of, deflecting a dangerous Richarlison shot out for another corner.
10 min: Ooof. This time it’s Mings dishing out a blow, belting the ball away while Engels, his teammate, stoops to head it back to Heaton. Thing is, he gives Engels a clobbering too. Mings probably knew Engels was unlikely to get good purchase on the ball, with Everton forwards looming, and felt he had to take urgent action. But Engels is flat out on the floor and needs a good minute or so of treatment before getting up; assuming he comes through the concussion protocols we’ll see him again soon.
8 min: Patient possession from Everton sees Villa eventually sweep up a Bernard cross. But the away side have definitely started the better here.
6 min: A slick backheel from Sigurdsson sets Richarlison scampering into the area, with Grealish tailing him. He tumbles over as his opponents gets close ... penalty? Nope, says Michael Oliver, despite Everton’s appeals.
Updated
5 min: Guilbert gets a debut yellow card for tugging back Bernard on halfway. Villa gave the ball away in order for that to happen, not for the first time.
3 min: Digne wins a corner from McGinn after another good Everton foray. The centre-backs are both up. Digne outswings it, but it’s cleared at the near post and then Heaton punches away from Bernard’s ball back in. Mings, in the wars already tonight, takes a thwack from his keeper in the process but should be alright.
1 min: Mings looks well enough as he nips in to intercept Richarlison’s ball for Calvert-Lewin after a lively Everton break.
Peeeep! This football match has begun!
Villa kick off and shoot left to right.
Mings is necking a Red Bull. When I played at uni I’d sometimes neck two of those before a game. What was I playing at? Once it got me so keyed up to charge into aerial contests that within 10 minutes of kick-off I was being sent to A&E with my head split open. Word to the wise there, Tyrone! Anyway, the players are out and the atmosphere is belting.
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Paul Mills writes in response to my ice cream plea:
“Last week, while on holiday in Ullapool, the 4 of us in my household enjoyed an unsurpassable homemade raspberry and elderflower sorbet from the Gelato shop so much, we returned for a repeat order yesterday. The fabulously flame-haired and very friendly ice cream seller took one look at us on entry and said ‘Ah, it’s the sorbet family’. Which is a name we are happy to keep.”
Lovely stuff. And lucky you – Ullapool is beautiful!
Mings does start – confirmation just in. He and the other 21 hopefuls will emerge shortly.
In a quick hop to other news – last-ditch hope for Bury, who are a little over four hours from extinction as things stand?
Breaking news: @buryfcofficial @forever_bury I believe a credible proof of funds has now been provided to #EFL +Steve Dale will be made a fair offer for the club before EFL deadline. I am optimistic the EFL who are being helpful can give us the extension needed to save the club.
— Ivan Lewis (@IvanLewis_MP) August 23, 2019
Tyrone Mings had a little problem in the warm-up there ... looks as if he should be OK but if there’s any news to the contrary, I’ll let you know.
Meanwhile, there’s a word you definitely shouldn’t say to Smith. It’s the F word!
Yerry Mina and Richarlison both start today but Silva has had a word in their ears – in English!
Lovely warm evening, isn’t it? I took a little stroll along the canal to Camden before settling down to spend a few hours with you lovely people. In doing so I consumed an ice cream with one scoop marzipan flavour, one scoop mint & cucumber flavour. Respectively I found them a little bit overbearing and a little bit icy/watery. Anyone enjoyed a weird ice cream flavour today?
Told you this one gives us a fuzzy feeling.
203 - Aston Villa vs Everton is the most played fixture in English football league history. This will be the 203rd league meeting between the sides - all of them in the top-flight (73 wins for Aston Villa, 76 for Everton). Harmonised. pic.twitter.com/GaffaOEXVe
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 23, 2019
Marco Silva:
“Our goal is to do better than last season, it’s something we must do. It’s too early to talk about the top six or whatever, we have to prove it on the pitch every week.”
“[Moise Kean will start a match] when he shows me in the training sessions that he is ready to, and is in a better moment than the others. We have to give him time. But sometimes a players can be decisive in 30 minutes.”
Villa boss Dean Smith speaks:
“It feels a little bit odd the way we’ve played that we’ve got nothing, but we’re only two games in. Our performances on the whole have been OK without being top performances but we felt we could have got something out of both games.”
“We get talked about as an established club in the Premier League club, probably because of how much we’ve spent, but it was always going to be a rebuild whether we were in the Premier League or the Championship.”
Teams
Aston Villa: Heaton, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Taylor, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet, McGinn, Grealish, Jota, Wesley. Subs: Lansbury, Steer, Hourihane, Konsa, El Ghazi, Elmohamady, Davis.
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne, Schneiderlin, Andre Gomes, Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Bernard, Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Holgate, Walcott, Iwobi, Sidibe, Stekelenburg, Davies, Kean.
Guilbert makes his debut for Villa at right-back. Jota also comes in. Schneiderlin gets a start for Everton, whose bench looks decent there, in place of Gbamin – the reason for whose absence is currently unclear.
Evening all
Friday night football ahoy! And this one’s the equivalent of a cosy evening under a rug with a glass of something nice. It’s Villa v Everton – two familiar, old-world Premier League names, both relatively unthreatening and usually *there*.
Well, that wasn’t quite the case during Villa’s recent stint in the Championship but they’re back now and gunning for mid-table stability in the short term. They haven’t quite looked set for that yet, defeats at Spurs and – more disappointingly – at home to Bournemouth making for an inauspicious start and leading to a few concerned mentions of the “Fulham” word. Villa revamped their squad at great expense over the summer; has it been too much change, too soon?
We might get a better idea when they face an Everton side that are starting to settle down nicely under Marco Silva. It’s not been scintillating, but a single-goal win over Watford and zero-zero at Palace were just fine. They’re eyeing a real shot at the big boys this season and a win tonight would suggest they might have what it takes.
So snuggle up and let’s get into this one. Don’t forget to send in your emails and tweets! Stay tuned for team news and other bits of fun.
