Aston Villa dismiss Everton for first win of Premier League season
Aston Villa cruised to 4-0 victory over Everton on Sunday for their first win of the 2023/23 Premier League season.
The result comes on the heels of a disappointing 5-1 away loss to Newcastle United in Matchweek 1 last weekend. Villa Park was made a fortress against Everton, and Villa looked strong from the opening whistle.
Captain John McGinn opened the scoring for the hosts in the 17th minute when he finished off a right-sided cross by Leon Bailey for his first goal of the season.
Douglas Luiz converted on a penalty in the 24th minute to expand Villa’s lead to two goals — a lead the Birmingham side would take into the break.
Bailey found the back of the net in the 51st minute (3-0), and substitute Jhon Duran scored his first goal for the club in the 75th minute when he capitalized on an error by former Villa star Ashley Young and beat Jordan Pickford 1-v-1 (4-0).
A thorough Aston Villa victory
Villa dominated every facet of the match and generated 3.20 expected goals (xG) to Everton’s 0.66. After the dismal Newcastle result, a thorough 4-0 victory was exactly what manager Unai Emery’s side needed.
“We needed this reaction today because after the match we played against Newcastle it was really embarrassing for us and everybody,” the gaffer said after the Everton match.
“It was a match today when I was excited in the beginning to see how we were reacting, and we were really brilliant,” he added. “We were keeping ball possession for as long as possible and trying to be aggressive, trying to be demanding in the attacking third. We did it and we scored four goals.”
McGinn echoed Emery’s sentiments, adding: “It was an awful start last week at St James’ Park – full credit to Newcastle they completely did a job on us.
“It was important that we reacted. We had a full crowd here, as we always do, and it was a great day at the office.”
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