Everton FC 3-0 Aston Villa match report Saturday 18th October 2014

Ross Barkley and Leighton Baines shone for Everton as they grab their first home win of the season against a lacklustre Aston Villa side to lift them to 13^th in the table.

Barkley, playing his first football since injuring knee ligaments just before the first game of the season in August, led his side, which have yet to win at Goodison Park to a dominant victory on a sunny afternoon in Merseyside. Baines also played a vital role in the game grabbing two assists.

Goals from Phil Jagielka, Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman were enough to doom Aston Villa to a fourth straight defeat and furthermore a fourth straight game without a goal.

Everton started the game the stronger, immediately dominating possession, of which they shared 70% of it in the first half. It took 18 minutes for the home side to make the break through. In the current debate about the decline of grass roots football, it was three Englishmen who combined for the goal. A corner from the right hand side by Baines was taken short to former Villa player Gareth Barry who then laid it back to Baines. The England international left back crossed the ball from the right hand corner of the penalty area to the six yard line where his international team mate and team captain Phil Jagielka was there to head home unmarked on the six yard line.

Villa seemed to gain some defensive solidarity after that and as a result the score remained the same going into the break.

It took only two minutes for the home side to double their lead in the second half. Barkley picked the ball up on the half way line and passed it to his team mate Lukaku. The Belgian held off the challenge of Ciaran Clarke and smashed the ball straight at Brad Guzan from the edge of the box. The shot fizzed through the grasp of the American and rolled over the line for a rare mistake by Villa’s usually solid keeper.

Baines was the main man involved for The Toffee’s third on 78 minutes. A left footed cross from the left hand side rolled along the six yard line was met at the far post by Seamus Coleman to seal the game. In retrospect, it took Villa 78 minutes to register a shot on target.

After their incredible start to the season, Villa are in danger of slipping to the lower reaches of the table, a position they have held for the previous few seasons despite the changes they made at the start of this campaign.