Paul Doyle was at Villa Park. His report has landed. Clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM.
There’s not a great deal to say about that match, other than to welcome back Jack Grealish. Both sides huffed and puffed. Villa will be pleased to see their star man return, Grealish wasting no time in making a few fancy runs. He’s been missed. Everton came closest to breaking the deadlock with that Dominic Calvert-Lewin header near the end, but Emiliano Martinez, not for the first time this season, was Villa’s hero. Villa are coming to the end of a more-than-acceptable campaign, in which they’ve consolidated their Premier League status after last year’s brush with relegation. Everton’s will end with some disappointment should they miss out on European football, even if the team’s development is trending in the right direction. Some big matches against Sheffield United, Wolves and Manchester City coming up.
FULL TIME: Aston Villa 0-0 Everton
Nothing comes of the free kick, and the whistle goes. We’ve seen better matches, truth be told. Villa remain in 11th on 49 points, while Everton rise to eighth on 56, their faint hopes of Champions League football kaput. Other European involvement is still a possibility, though.
90 min +7: Davis drives down the right and nearly gets the better of Allan, who slides in and concedes a free kick. Villa load the box, in the hope of a dramatic last-gasp smash-and-grab.
90 min +6: Mings is allowed to stay on the pitch, despite having received treatment. He’s struggling, limping badly, and yet manages to get a strong header on Allan’s long throw.
90 min +5: Mings is back up, happily, though he doesn’t look comfortable putting weight on his left ankle. “Too late to coin this the Cazoo Classico?” wonders Ciarán Brennan. “Probably is, but thought I’d get it in before they change sponsors.”
90 min +4: Martinez is back up, but Mings looks in genuine distress. Such a shame, because that was a sensational last-ditch goal-saving challenge.
90 min +3: In whipping that cross out of play for a throw, Mings has hurt himself ... and his own keeper Martinez. On come the physios. Mings in particular looks in a lot of pain.
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90 min +2: Richarlison latches onto a poor Elmohamady back header, tearing down the left. He crosses low. Calvert-Lewin prepares to tap in, only for Mings to slide in and hook away dramatically!
90 min +1: Gomes crosses from the right. Calvert-Lewin flashes a header miles over the bar and wide right to boot.
90 min: McGinn is booked for a cynical tug on Gomes, who was in the business of breaking down the middle. Digne floats the resulting free kick into the mixer, but Villa clear. There will be three added minutes.
89 min: ... but you can never second-guess VAR, can you, and Mings gets away with it. Lucky chap.
88 min: VAR is checking for a red card. Mings hangs out a leg and connects with Calvert-Lewin’s shin. It was an unnecessary challenge. Mings could be in bother here.
87 min: Digne crosses from the left. At the far post, Calvert-Lewin rises above Targett and heads down towards the bottom right. Martinez spreads himself, starfish-style, and blocks sensationally. The rebound falls to Richarlison, who can only eyebrow a header over the bar.
85 min: Iwobi twists and turns down the right and crosses deep for Richarlison, who can only head weakly towards Martinez. The keeper’s in the thick of it again, seconds later, coming out to block Calvert-Lewin, who was working his way into the box from the right. He cleverly stops his advance towards the striker, just when it looked like contact was about to be made. Calvert-Lewin, unable to buy a penalty, runs out for a goal kick.
84 min: Grealish gazzas his way upfield, right to left. He’s got four yellow shirts on his tail, and eventually weight of numbers does for him. But for a second it looked like a special goal was about to unfold. We’ve missed watching this guy.
82 min: Some space for Ramsey down the middle. He slips a pass down the inside-left in the hope of springing Davis clear, but the striker takes a heavy touch and runs the ball out of play. Everton were a bit light at the back there, and breathe again.
80 min: Doucoure gives Grealish a wee brush on the nose as he steps across him. No foul. Grealish is incensed, and gives the referee some beneficial advice. He stops just short of talking himself into the book. “Two minutes after coming on, Grealish has already done more running than Barkley did in one hour ... or indeed all season,” quips Francis Lee.
79 min: Grealish busies himself down the middle and slips wide right for El Ghazi, who traps and flashes towards the top left. Always missing.
78 min: Richarlison romps down the right, Mings affording him way too much space. Richarlison pulls back for Gomes, whose effort from the edge of the box is blocked by Elmohamady. That’s a fine chance but not a shot to match.
76 min: Grealish is brought down by Allan and yells dramatically. Villa hearts skip a beat. Happily he’s up again quickly enough. “I’ve just seen a screenshot of the iPad that was shown to Jack Grealish before he came on,” reports Gary Naylor. “It says: ‘Do whatever you like.’”
75 min: Everton make an attacking change of their own, replacing their captain Coleman with Iwobi. Digne pulls on the armband.
74 min: Now he draws a couple of yellow shirts as he glides down the left, flicking a pass wide left for Targett, who earns, then delivers, a corner. Elmohamady heads it wide.
73 min: Grealish executes his first insouciant flick since February. It’s been too long.
72 min: Here’s what everybody, with the rule-proving exception of Graham Moger (68 min), has been waiting for: the arrival of Jack Grealish. He comes on for Traore.
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71 min: The corner is a complete non-event.
70 min: Gomes’s first act of the evening is to blaze wildly over the bar from a promising position on the edge of the area. Villa go up the other end, Ramsey curling powerfully towards the top right, the ball deflected out for a corner.
69 min: “Everton better score before Grealish is subbed in,” writes Mary Waltz. “This is a must win.”
68 min: “Whilst half of your loyal readers (or possibly both of them) are hoping to see something of Grealish in the second half, I’m hoping for more of a contribution from Everton’s Mary Waltz,” writes Graham Moger. “Is that likely?”
67 min: Everton make their first change of the evening, replacing Sigurdsson with Gomes.
65 min: Barkley, whose loan spell with Villa runs out this summer, is replaced by Ramsey. Could that be his Villa Park farewell? Villa’s last home game is against Barkley’s parent club Chelsea, while he hasn’t done a great deal today that demands any sort of extension.
63 min: Calvert-Lewin is energetically eased off the ball by Luiz, and now it’s Everton’s turn again to have a free kick and load the opposition box. Digne floats it towards Holgate, coming in from the left. His gentle header goalwards is easily claimed by Martinez.
61 min: El Ghazi whips the free kick towards the top left. Pickford opts to punch, and the ball defects off his fist and out for a corner, from which Traore blazes a shot into the top corner of the Holte End. That was wild.
60 min: Davis is brought down by Keane, 25 yards out, just to the left of centre. El Ghazi likes the look of this.
59 min: The corner drops to the feet of McGinn, eight yards out. Only problem is, the six-yard box is choc-a-bloc with players of both stripe, and he can’t force a shot through all that solid matter.
58 min: A lot of jostling for position before the corner can be taken.
57 min: Richarlison sprays a ball down the right for Calvert-Lewin, who glides infield, considers a shot, then considers a return pass, and achieves neither. El Ghazi goes up the other end and wins a corner on the left.
55 min: Sigurdsson is booked for a cynical tug on Luiz’s shirt. Meanwhile Mings goes down briefly, having been clipped by Calvert-Lewin as the pair chased upfield. He’s back up soon enough.
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54 min: ... and Everton are having the better of it, having spent a third of this second half, give or take a percentage point, near Villa’s box.
53 min: Both teams have clearly upped the tempo. It’s all a bit scrappy as a result, but there’s also more of a sense that something positive might happen soon.
52 min: Sigurdsson wedges a diagonal free kick towards Godfrey, on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. Godfrey extends a leg and guides the dropping ball towards the top right from a tight angle. Martinez turns around his post, and the resulting corner is a waste of time.
51 min: McGinn barges Coleman in the back and that’s a free kick 30 yards out, just left of centre. Sigurdsson and Digne stand over it.
50 min: McGinn shovels a pass down the right in the hope of releasing Traore. Just a bit too much juice on the ball, and out it flies for a goal kick. Nearly, though.
48 min: Everton have clearly been given the what-for by Carlo Ancelotti. They’ve already shown more purpose in the first three minutes of the second half than they did during the entire first 45. This time Calvert-Lewin bustles after a ball down the left flank, but can’t quite get on the end of it, allowing Martinez to gather.
47 min: Everton come again, Allan rolling a pass down the inside-left channel to release Calvert-Lewin. The striker’s one on one with Martinez, but shoots straight into his chest. Turns out he was offside anyway, but Martinez wasn’t to know that, and it was a fine block.
46 min: Everton are quickly on the front foot, Richarlison and Sigurdsson sweeping forward and teeing up Doucoure, who scuffs his shot from the edge of the box.
Villa get the second half underway. No changes, so no Jack Grealish yet. Villa are kicking towards the Holte End now.
Half-time reading. It’s probably worth keeping an eye on events at Old Trafford, where Manchester United supporters are once again protesting against the Glazers. United are scheduled to play Liverpool later on this evening.
HALF TIME: Aston Villa 0-0 Everton
This game needs a Jack Grealish.
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45 min +3: Cash can’t continue, and Elmohamady comes on in his place.
45 min +2: Only one extra minute was scheduled, but Cash is down holding his hamstring, and on comes the physio.
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45 min +1: Richarlison tries to dribble his way into the Villa box. Konsa eases him off the ball, allowing Martinez to gather. Richarlison and Konsa then exchange philosophical viewpoints, but the situation calms down quickly enough.
45 min: Digne gets up and tries to get on with it, though he’s grimacing quite a lot and seemingly unwilling to put too much weight on his sore leg right now. He’ll limp through until half time.
44 min: Digne is down having been clattered on the follow-through by Cash. That was an old-fashioned robust sliding tackle, and it will have hurt.
43 min: Traore dribbles down the middle and nearly breaks into the Everton box. Godfrey and Doucoure are nearby, so he goes over in the hope of grifting the referee. No dice. Yellow card for simulation.
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42 min: El Ghazi drops a shoulder to make some space down the left. His cross is blocked by Holgate. Barkley pulls the resulting corner back to Luiz, who attempts the spectacular from 25 yards. Full marks for ambition, if little else.
40 min: Barkley has a chance to feed Davis down the middle, but his pass is dreadful. He might be labouring under the misapprehension that he’s still playing for Everton.
39 min: Space for Digne out left. He loops a cross to the far stick. The ball very nearly sails over Martinez and into the top right, but flies just wide of the post. Calvert-Lewin, arriving late, tries to trundle it home but can’t connect. Martinez was out of the game there.
37 min: McGinn spins into space down the right, looks up, and finds Barkley in acres on the edge of the box, Everton’s central defenders AWOL. A forensic pass finds its target, but Barkley takes a heavy touch and a chance to step into the box and shoot is gone. That’s very poor.
35 min: Richarlison, the ball at his feet in a small pocket of space to the right of the Villa D, shuffles cleverly and zips a short-backlift effort wide left. Martinez had that covered, but it was cute play from the Everton striker, creating something from very little.
34 min: Nope. The set piece delivery in this match has been pretty poor so far.
33 min: Godfrey knocks a speculative ball down the Villa left behind for a corner, despite not being under a great deal of pressure from Luiz. Will Villa make the Everton defender pay for his panic?
32 min: It’s a rainy day in Birmingham. Yep, another lull.
30 min: A long ball blootered down the middle. Cash nicks Richarlison’s toe. Richarlison goes down in a highly theatrical style, purchasing a cheap free kick. Sigurdsson’s eyes light up. He aims for the top left, but he doesn’t catch it at all, the ball getting over the wall but dropping like a feather into Martinez’s arms.
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28 min: Digne fouls Traore out on the right, and the resulting free kick leads to a corner down the same flank. Villa play it short, Targett and Traore making an awful balls of it. Villa probably need to do a wee bit of work on these short corners. They’ve been awful.
27 min: Luiz loops a pass down the left. Keane misjudges the flight and allows Davis to drive upfield. Davis whistles an inviting ball along the corridor of uncertainty, but there’s nobody in claret keeping up with him, and Everton can deal with the situation easily enough.
25 min: McGinn cynically clips Allan to the floor. He’s a little bit late, and quite a lot fortunate not to go into the referee’s notebook.
24 min: Canned meat, that’s what Hafnia were all about, if memory serves.
22 min: More of that aforementioned nothing. On that subject, here’s Gary Naylor: “Not only are both clubs’ shirts sponsored by Cazoo, but I’ve just noticed that the ‘A’ is shaped like a little car. Yes, the match is a little uneventful so far.” Say what you will about Hafnia, they never became an unwanted distraction like this.
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20 min: El Ghazi takes up possession 35 yards out, turns, and aims for the top-right corner. It’s always heading wide and high. Everton should never have given him so much space, though.
19 min: A long pass down the right releases Richarlison into space. A first-time cross nearly finds Calvert-Lewin in the middle, but Villa do enough to swarm and clear. This match is threatening to become interesting, without quite managing to do so. Yet.
17 min: Targett crosses viciously from the left, forcing Digne to head over his own crossbar under pressure from El Ghazi. Can Barkley deliver a better corner this time? Yes he can. It causes some confusion in the box. Douglas Luiz finds a bit of space down the inside-right channel and whips to the near post. Mings stoops and flashes a header inches wide right. He had to score, and holds his head in his hands accordingly.
16 min: Cash is back on. His distress may have been less a concussion issue, more an old-fashioned whack on the nose.
15 min: Coleman crosses well from the right this time. Calvert-Lewin gets a header on target, but there’s no power in his effort. Martinez claims.
14 min: Cash is down. The physio is on. He’s been clattered accidentally upside the head by Sigurdsson, as the pair challenged for a high ball, and looks a little dazed right now.
12 min: Villa have enjoyed 61 percent of the possession so far. Everton have looked slightly sharper when attacking. There’s not a whole lot going on, to tell the truth.
10 min: Targett slips a pass down the left for El Ghazi, but there’s nobody in the middle in support. Possession is lost. Coleman mooches down the right again but his cross is nothing more than catching practice for Martinez. Holte End holdings, if you will.
8 min: Richarlison sprays a pass wide right for Coleman, who sends in a cross that fails to beat Mings. Everton are slowly coming into the game now.
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6 min: Allan bustles his way down the middle and looks to slip Calvert-Lewin into the box, but his pass rolls behind his intended target and harmlessly through to Martinez.
5 min: Villa have enjoyed the bulk of possession during these early exchanges, without doing too much with the ball.
3 min: Otherwise, it’s been a fairly nondescript start. Plenty of time for this match to bloom.
2 min: ... nothing occurs. It’s a complete waste.
1 min: Coleman, under mild pressure from his old team-mate Barkley, loses control of his feet and gifts Villa a very early corner. At which ...
Everton get the ball rolling ... but only after everyone takes a knee. There’s no room for racism. Challenge it. Report it. Change it. Kick it out.
Here come the teams! Villa wear claret, Everton in second-choice yellow. Everton always look good in yellow, shades of the late 60s, the Holy Trinity, the first FA Cup final to be televised in colour, all that. We’ll be off in a minute!
Carlo Ancelotti has a chat with Sky. “We have strong motivation. Most of our players have not played in Europe in their career so they are really focused. It is a big challenge, but a big opportunity also. We will try to do our best. It’s only four games until the end, and we arrive with good momentum after the victory against West Ham.”
Dean Smith talks to Sky Sports. “We want to finish the season as well as we started it. We have four games in 11 days and we’re looking forward to them. I thought we were a little bit unfortunate with the goals we conceded on Sunday, but our performance against Everton last week was really good and we need more of that. [The return of Jack Grealish] is a big boost. He’s a top player. To have had him out for almost a third of the season is a big reason why we have been so inconsistent. He’s such a good player, and it’s great for the fans and the squad that he’s back today.”
Pre-match optimism / doom-mongering. “This fixture today was postponed from January and has been Everton’s game in hand forever,” writes Matt Burtz. “I’m still delusionally optimistic that they will finish on 67 points, but knowing their home form they’ll win today and lose to Sheffield United on Sunday.”
Mary Waltz adds: “If Everton can win out their remaining fixtures they will end up with 67 points and that should guarantee a spot in Europe. So yes, I have raised my hopes. It will probably not end well, but maybe this year Everton will not pull a Everton.”
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Time Flies dept. Here’s what happened when the two teams met 12 days ago, in both match report and new-fangled MBM form.
Aston Villa make one enforced change to the side named for the 3-1 defeat by Manchester United at the weekend. Keinan Davis takes the place of suspended striker Ollie Watkins. Jack Grealish returns after missing 12 games with a shin problem, but only on the bench.
Everton make two changes to the XI sent out for the 1-0 win at West Ham. Mason Holgate steps in for the injured Yerry Mina, while Abdoulaye Doucoure takes the place of Tom Davies, who drops to the bench.
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The teams
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Traore, Barkley, El Ghazi, Davis.
Subs: Wesley, Grealish, Steer, Nakamba, Elmohamady, Hause, Ramsey, Philogene-Bidace, Chukwuemeka.
Everton: Pickford, Holgate, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Coleman, Allan, Doucoure, Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison.
Subs: Delph, King, Iwobi, Nkounkou, Bernard, Andre Gomes, Davies, Virginia, Olsen.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
Preamble
Both of these lads were involved in the first-ever season of the Football League in 1888, so there’s no huge surprise that this is the most played match in English league history. Big up Victorian-infused face-off number 206!
The tally is currently 76-75 to Everton. Villa have closed the gap recently, winning 2-0 at home last year, then 2-1 at Goodison 12 days ago, this particular fixture having been postponed due to Covid. Not ideal for the Toffees, but consider this: Everton have won nearly twice as many points on the road than at home this season (36 to 19) while Villa have lost nearly half of their games at home (eight to 17).
Both teams have their reasons to be cheerful. Both have reasons for concern. Just as the neutral likes it. Here we go, then! Kick off is at 6pm BST. It’s on!
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