Aston Villa’s Premier League title ambitions suffered a damaging blow as an 11-game home winning streak ended with a 1-0 defeat to Everton.
Villa could have cut the gap on leaders Arsenal to four points with victory at fortress Villa Park but they were undone by Thierno Barry’s second-half strike.
Barry’s 59th-minute winner came courtesy of a defensive howler by Pau Torres, a goalkeeping error by Emiliano Martinez and hands further initiative to the Gunners in the title race.
A frustrating afternoon highlighted how Villa are perhaps not serious title challengers given the fragile state of their squad and they will need some reinforcements in the coming weeks if they want to remain in the hunt.
Everton became the first team to win at Villa Park since August and they are just four points behind city rivals Liverpool – who currently occupy fourth position – and are also in contention for European contention.
David Moyes will be relieved his side were able to get the job done after they had a goal controversially ruled out in the first half after Harrison Armstrong was deemed to have been interfering from an offside position after Jake O’Brien had headed in.
They had needed just 11 seconds to prove they were not going to roll over as they almost scored straight from kick-off.
Jordan Pickford’s long ball was flicked on by Barry into the path of Merlin Rohl and his bundled effort hit the inside of the post and landed in the arms of a grateful Martinez.
Villa breathed a sigh of relief and kicked into gear. They should have been ahead in the fifth minute as Emiliano Buendia broke clear and ignored the obvious pass to Ollie Watkins, instead picking out Morgan Rogers, who skied his 12-yard effort.
The hosts were on top, but had their momentum killed in the 18th minute when captain John McGinn limped off, leaving an already threadbare squad short of options.
A crazy 15-minute spell before half-time could have seen both teams take the lead, but somehow it stayed goalless.
Everton threatened with Vitaliy Mykolenko forcing Martinez into a strong save with a shot from distance.
From the subsequent short corner, the visitors had the ball in the back of the net when O’Brien headed home, but Armstrong was offside and ruled to be interfering.
Villa hit back and should have broken the deadlock but O’Brien produced a big block to deny Rogers after brilliant work down the left by Ian Maatsen.
Rogers was determined to get on the scoresheet and sent Pickford into a flying save from distance before Evann Guessand hit the crossbar with a looping header from Youri Tielemans’ cross.
Unai Emery’s side were on the attack early in the second half as Tielemans sent a header whistling past the post.
But Everton took the lead in the 59th minute after two massive mistakes by the hosts.
First Torres miscontrolled Ezri Konsa’s pass, which allowed Dwight McNeil to have a shot from the edge of the area.
That appeared to be a routine save for Martinez, but the Argentina goalkeeper spilled the ball and Barry clipped home the rebound in sumptuous style.
Villa’s response was good and Rogers was on a one-man mission to get on the scoresheet but he blazed a good chance over before seeing his England team-mate Pickford produce a sublime save to tip a curling shot over.
With nothing to turn to from the bench, they ran out of ideas and Everton enjoyed the rare treat of an away win at Villa Park.
PA
