Everton 0-2 Aston Villa

Ollie Watkins’ penalty earned the striker a piece of Aston Villa history and helped his team to a hard-fought victory against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Watkins became the first Villan to score in five consecutive Premier League matches when he smashed home a penalty following a foul on John McGinn just after the hour mark.  

Emiliano Buendía, who scored the winner in this fixture last season, came off the bench to wrap up all three points, firing home an unstoppable shot with nine minutes remaining.

A sixth clean sheet in the top flight this season helped secure the win and end a run of three straight defeats - extending Villa's unbeaten run against the Toffees to eight in the process.

Unai Emery brought Lucas Digne into the fold to face his former club alongside Jacob Ramsey and Leon Bailey as the head coach looked to end a run of three consecutive defeats.

The latter two were tasked with supporting the red-hot Watkins in attack, but it was an angled clip from Boubacar Kamara that facilitated the striker’s first sight of goal.

Watkins took the superbly weighted pass on his chest and raced in on goal, with Jordan Pickford deflecting his shot wide.

Everton, who came into the game as the joint-lowest scorers in the top flight, struggled to create any openings of note before Neal Maupay glanced a header wide from a corner after 28 minutes.

The Toffees did, however, have a passionate home support behind them, and Goodison Park was ready to erupt had Emi Martinez not produced a fine save to tip Amadou Onana’s header over the bar.  

Villa’s No1 made another routine save from Maupay as the hosts finished the first half the stronger of the two sides.

A quiet ten minutes ensued after the restart before the game burst into life when Everton almost benefited from a large slice of luck to take the lead.

Alex Iwobi’s shot was heading wide before it struck the stricken Ezri Konsa, rebounding into the path of Maupay. Martinez was able to smother the striker’s header before Tyrone Mings hacked it off the line.

Villa’s best chance of the game followed soon after when Digne raced down the left and crossed for Watkins, whose downward header was tipped onto the post by Pickford before James Tarkowski cleared.

Minutes later, the forward was celebrating his eighth league goal of the season. A surging McGinn was felled in the box by Idrissa Gueye, leaving Watkins to grab the ball and thump his spot kick straight down the middle.

Buendía had been one of the players to drop out of the starting XI, but he made a telling impact from the bench when he scored Villa’s second goal on 81 minutes.

More superb work from McGinn, a marauding run through the middle, ended with the captain laying the ball into Buendía, who went on his left foot and fired a vicious shot past Pickford.