Toffees come unstuck at Villa

Aston Villa piled the misery on Everton with a deserved 2-0 win at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon.

Aston Villa piled the misery on Everton with a deserved 2-0 win at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon. Goals in each half from John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor were enough to give Martin O'Neill's men all three points. Carew broke the deadlock after 14 minutes with his first goal of the season after Leighton Baines failed to clear his lines. Agbonlahor doubled the lead on the hour mark with a superb solo goal to get Villa back to winning ways. Villa did not fire on all cylinders but the pace of Agbonlahor and Ashley Young, the power of Carew before he was injured, the midfield guile of Gareth Barry and Nigel Reo-Coker and the defensive strength of Martin Laursen gave them the edge. Young attempted the first effort on goal for Villa but his 25-yard drive set the tone for a generally mediocre first half as it flew high and wide.

Opener

But after 13 minutes Villa broke the deadlock through Carew's first goal of the campaign. Wilfred Bouma's left-wing cross was headed straight up in the air by Joseph Yobo and then Baines only succeeded in clearing the ball straight to Carew, who steadied himself before firing a low shot past Stefan Wessels. Agbonlahor had the ball in the net again four minutes later but Young's cross was adjudged to have curled out of play before finding his England Under 21 team-mate. Andy Johnson made a telling break down the right flank after Phil Jagielka's pass over the top of the Villa defence but his low centre was cut out by Scott Carson who was being watched by England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence. Johnson's trickery won him a free-kick just outside the Villa box after being upended by Zat Knight but Leon Osman crashed his low shot straight into the Villa defensive wall.

Rescue

In first half injury-time Tony Hibbert came to Everton's rescue when he cleared Agbonlahor's header off the line after Wessels had failed to deal with a Young corner. Reo-Coker presented Everton with a chance early in the second half to get back on level terms when he brought down Jagielka on the edge of the Villa box. Up stepped Johnson to curl the free-kick around the defensive wall - but Carson was alert to the situation and had his body right behind the shot. Johnson had his first clear-cut chance after 52 minutes but he mis-hit his shot just past the post from a knockdown by Victor Anichebe. O'Neill was forced to make a change after 52 minutes when Carew limped out of the action to be replaced by Craig Gardner.

Doubled the lead

It led to Agbonlahor being pushed up front - and after 62 minutes he showed great control to double Villa's lead with his third goal in four matches against Everton. Carson's long clearance over the Everton defence was brought down with one touch by Agbonlahor - and his second slid the ball wide of the dive of Wessels. Moyes brought on Yakubu for the final 20 minutes, but Everton never threatened to force their way back into the match, while Agbonlahor and team-mate Marlon Harewood exchanged words at the final whistle.

Aston Villa	Team Statistics	Everton
2	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	4
5	Shots off Target	3
0	Blocked Shots	4
6	Corners	3
18	Fouls	12
4	Offsides	0
1	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
70.7	Passing Success	79.1
25	Tackles	24
76	Tackles Success	75
43.1	Possession	56.9
47.2	Territorial Advantage	52.8