Is it a crisis? That seems a bit extreme, but undoubtedly Aston Villa’s season has begun tepidly. Their quest to become the 162nd and final team in England’s top seven divisions to score in 2025-26 fell flat in their goalless draw at Everton.
More worrying for Unai Emery, though, was the missing zip and intensity present during much of Villa’s recent relative success. The only moment of breath-holding for Everton supporters was Emi Buendía’s second-half effort that deflected off James Tarkowski and, with Jordan Pickford flailing, went wide.
Given his work over the nearly three years since arriving, Emery need not glance fearfully over his shoulder (yet). Plus, it is generally accepted that financial regulations have made life exceedingly difficult for Villa. They are essentially Newcastle of 12 months’ back.
Still, football moves swiftly, and Emery has questions to answer with the first murmurs of discontent. Include May’s defeat at Old Trafford and you have a team that is goalless for 467 Premier League minutes and counting.
“This point, with the difficulties we had, I am accepting it, I am happy,” Emery said. “The commitment the players showed is the first step forward. The performance, the discipline and being organised like we planned was very good.”
On Villa’s goal drought, he admitted to being “a little bit worried, but confident for the future”.
Emery’s expression as he observed the first half was pained. A completely scuffed attempted outside-of-the foot through ball from Morgan Rogers summed up their efforts and the pre-match criticism of the starting XI looked justified. His team sheet screamed: “Stick-in-it-for-an-hour, lads,” with a plan to introduce flair later – not exactly where Villa imagined they would be at the turn of the year given the clubs’ respective positions back then.
Youri Tielemans’s injury forced Emery into a half-time switch and he introduced the forward Evann Guessand. Villa did improve, Guessand adding some previously absent presence.
Still, Emery’s decision to reinstate Emiliano Martínez was his best of the day. Midway through the second half, the goalkeeper acrobatically tipped Michael Keane’s goal-bound header on to the bar.
As for Everton, well, unlike most services connecting London and Birmingham to the north-west, their hype-train has left the station well before time. Yes, they have improved dramatically under David Moyes. Yes, they are no longer dour to watch. But talk of European football is premature.
They have made a decent start to this season, but that is all it is. They probably ought to have won here, but did not. That cancels out the three undeserved points they took from Brighton on the opening day at their new waterside residence.
This 90-minutes showed exactly where Everton are at. Solid, with a few touches of flair, an old-school “find Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish and see what they can conjure” setup.
“The two of them were fantastic in their ball-carrying and one v one situations,” said Moyes. “They’ve made us a much bigger threat that we were before.”
Inevitably, Grealish – something old of Villa’s, an Everton newbie borrowed from Manchester City, calves bulging in blue – shone. “You’re not super any more,” sang the visiting corner, half-heartedly at best. Generally, wherever he went, two or three in claret followed. He teased defenders all afternoon.
What Everton fans would give for a centre-forward of note, though. Beto’s opening 10 minutes were laughable. First, his right-foot shot from Ndiaye’s low cross was blocked by his left boot; next, he needlessly danced offside; finally, to complete the comedy triptych, he took an awful touch when a good one would have made him favourite to score. Few of the 50,000 present were surprised.
Soon after the break, instead of scoring, Beto made minimal contact with James Garner’s cross. His removal 15 minutes from time brought a warm reception. His effort is endearing, but it was the type of part-encouragement, part-sympathy applause usually reserved for the child destined to finish last at school sports day. His replacement, Thierno Barry, could have won it late on but Tyrone Mings blocked.
Moyes was disappointed at two points dropped, but said: “I’m pleased because I thought the players put in a brilliant performance. We played with a lot of confidence, a lot of intensity, and the crowd showed that as well. They saw the team fighting all the way to the last minute.”
