Aston Villa came from two goals down against Everton, to secure their third win of the Premier League campaign, putting them on nine points from a possible 12 so far, and leaving them currently 3rd in the table.
Everton started fast, finding themselves two goals up after just 27 minutes, with Dwight McNeil, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the scoresheet for the Toffees. Ollie Watkins fired back with his first in the 36th minute, and a second in the 58th minute.
The winner was scored yet again by Jhon Duran, who also scored decisive goals against West Ham and Leicester, both of which ended in 2–1 victories. Duran has scored three goals already this season, despite only playing 103 minutes of football.
Ollie Watkins's performance against Everton
Coming from 2-0 behind, Watkins scored Villa’s first and second goals, to bring them back level. These were the forward’s first two goals of the new campaign, having not scored in his previous three games.
Duran has outshone Watkins so far to start this season, taking the limelight, and scoring the big goals in big moments. Even after scoring a brace to get Villa back in the game, the Colombian stole the headlines with his wonderstrike to win the game.
Watkins is coming off of a sparkling 2023/24 campaign, where the England international made 53 appearances in all competitions, scoring 27 goals, providing 13 assists, and totaling 4,323 minutes played.
Hopefully, his brace against the Toffees will now provide him with the confidence to return to his best form in the coming weeks and months.
Youri Tielemans' masterclass
Given a player rating of 8/10 by GIVEMESPORT (only bettered by Watkins’ 9/10), Youri Tielemans ran the show in midfield, managing 147 touches, which was the most on the pitch for both teams.
The 27-year-old has been a key figure for Unai Emery to start this season, playing all 360 minutes of Premier League football so far, and he controlled the tempo of the game for Villa against Everton.
Stat
Tielemans
Minutes
90
Touches
147
Passes
126/136
Pass Completion %
93%
Key Passes
2
Long Balls
2/4
Big Chances Created
1
Ground Duels Won
5/9
Tackles
4
The Villains held 73% of the ball, making nearly triple the number of passes as Everton, Villa making 665 passes, and Everton making 240. A huge part of this dominance was the control of the Belgian in the Villa midfield, having his fair share of the ball.
Tielemans, who took 147 touches, and made 126 successful passes of his 136 attempted, had nearly quadruple the number of touches as the Everton midfield duo, Idrissa Gueye and Tim Iroegbunham.
The ex-Leicester star also made more than five times the number of successful passes than the pair, who only made 22 successful passes out of 25 attempts between them.
That dominance in midfield was what allowed Villa to get back into the game, controlling proceedings largely down to the midfield maestro pulling the strings. But it was not just his on-ball work, as Tielemans also made four tackles, and won five of his nine ground duels, doing a good job at breaking up play in the middle of the park.
Whilst Watkins and Duran will get most of the plaudits for their goals, winning the game, Tielemans deserves huge praise, after a midfield masterclass for Emery’s side.
