Key events
22 min: Ndiaye is fouled and Everton win a free-kick deep in his own half. Unai Emery is going crazy at the touchline, gyrating and gesticulating furiously in a manner as if to suggest … well, your guess is as good as mine. I’m not sure if it’s the referee or one of his own players who is the subject of his considerable ire.
20 min: Everton midffielder Tim Oregbunam is booked for a late challenge on Onana, who was definitely fouled on this occasion. He’s the second Everton player to have his name taken as Iliman Ndiaye saw yellow shortly before the goal for kicking the ball away and delaying a restart.
18 min: Andre Onana was lying on the ground hbolding his shin when that goal was scored, claiming he’d been fouled when McNeil robbed the ball from him. I suspect the only thing injured in that particular coming-together was the Villa midfielder’s pride. His former teammate has made him look a right chump.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Everton (McNeil 16)
Everton lead! Dwight McNeil outmuscles Andre Onana, wins the ball and drives forward. With the Villa defence backpedalling furiously, he looks up and fires a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner from about 25 yards out.
14 min: The camera cuts to the Villa directors’ box, where Tyrone Mings is seated beside a man who looks suspiciously like the England interim manager Lee Carsley. Mings is due back in action next month after over a year out with a knee injury. Good luck to him!
11 min: Villa are in the ascendency and their latest attack comes in the form of a squared ball from Lucas Digne on the left, which Watkins shanks high and wide from about eight yards out.
The Villa striker connected with the ball on the stretch and might have been better served leaving it for Rogers, who was in a good position just behind him.
10 min: Morgan Rogers beats Tim Oregbunam to a 50-50 ball and finds himself in space just outside the Everton penalty area. His shot is surprisingly weak and straight at Jordan Pickford, who probably can’t believe his luck.
8 min: Lucas Digne picks out Ollie Watkins with a corner sent deep and the Villa striker’s downward header is blocked about a yard from the line by Iliman Ndiaye. That’s a goal-saving block!
7 min: Out on the right flank, McGinn latches on to a long Tielemans ball from deep and traps it expertly. He plays it inside to Rogers, who immediately loses it.
5 min: From a position wide on the left, Morgan Rogers spots a Tielemans run and plays the ball into the midfielder’s path. The Belgian’s low shot from a tight-ish angle is blocked by James Tarkowski.
4 min: Morgan Rogers plays the ball out wide to John McGinn on the right but the Villa skipper’s attempt to cut inside past Vitaly Mykolenko is foiled by Everton’s Ukrainian full-back.
3 min: Play is broken up by the concession of two or three throw-ins in quick succession, halfway inside the Villa half. It’s all very scrappy in these very early stages.
2 min: Idrissa Gueye brings down Youri Tielemans near the halfway line, conceding an early free-kick. Everton’s players are wearing white shirts today, with black shorts and white socks.
Aston Villa v Everton is go …
1 min: Aston Villa get the ball rolling, being forced to kick towards the Holte End in this first half. Their fans are unimpressed with Everton’s early act of impertinence.
Not long now: Referee Craig Pawson and his team of match officials lead both sets of players out on to the Villa Park pitch. The last of the pre-match formalities are under way and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
In the absence of Seamus Coleman, James Tarkowski wears the captain’s armband for Everton, while John McGinn skippers Aston Villa.
A tale of two midfielders: Having moved in opposite directions along the M6 during the summer, Everton’s Tim Oregbunam and Aston Villa’s Amadou Onana will go toe to toe as they face their former clubs this evening.
As things stand, it could be argued that Iroegbunam has got the dirty end of that particular stick, while Onana has got his Aston Villa career off to a flyer, scoring two goals in his first three games for them.
How things stand: Following Liverpool’s shock home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest this afternoon, a win tonight will send Aston Villa level on points with Arne Slot’s side, who are currently second in the table, three points behind Manchester City. A win for Everton will take them from the foot of the table to the dizzy heights of 15th.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Craig Pawson.
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Assistant referees: Simon Bennett and Dan Robathan.
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Fourth official: David Webb.
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VAR: David Coote.
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Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.
Aston Villa: The club’s eye-popping Champions League pricing has rankled the fanbase amid planned protests at tonight’s match against Everton. Ben Fisher reports …
Sean Dyche: “It’s my responsibility”
Speaking ahead of today’s game, Everton’s manager was asked about his side’s collapse last time out against Bournemouth, in a match where they lost 3-2, despite being two goals up after 87 minutes.
“We’re all disappointed with that and inevitably it’s my responsibility,” he said. “The players, I’d like to think, over 20 months here, have learned to deal with those situations. We obviously didn’t on the day. We didn’t do the things that were necessary to see the game through and we’ve got to continually learn from that.
“The game is never over. How we deal with that, it is more reminders. We have a group of players who are mature enough to know at that stage of the game to see it through and we just didn’t do that.”
Those teams: In a selection that is bound to prompt eyerolls among members of the travelling support, Sean Dyche makes just one change to the side that started against Bournemouth and it’s been forced by injury. Ashley Young comes in at right-back for Seamus Coleman.
Unai Emery also makes one change to the side that beat Leicester City last time out. Jacob Ramsey comes in for the hamstrung Leon Bailey.
Aston Villa v Everton line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Bogarde, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Onana, Tielemans, McGinn, Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins.
Subs: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Young.
Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Gueye, Harrison, Ndiaye, McNeil, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Virginia, Mangala, Beto, O’Brien, Doucoure, Lindstrom, Garner, Armstrong, Dixon.
Early team news
Leon Bailey (hamstring) and Matty Cash (thigh) are both out for Villa, who are ready to welcome Jaden Philogene and Dieigo Carlos back from injury. Tyrone Mings is back in full training following his recovery from the knee injury that has kept him sidelined for over a year and it will not be a massive surprise if he features in today’s matchday squad.
Orel Malanga is available for selection for Everton following his deadline day loan move from Lyon, but Armando Broja, brought in on loan on the same day from Chelsea, is out with injury. Everton defenders Jarrad Brantwaithe and Nathan Patterson are both yet to play for Everton this season and remain out injured, while Seamus Coleman is a doubt after picking up an injury while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland.
Aston Villa v Everton
Premier League: Without a Premier League point on the board and having seen their team soil the sheets in quite extraordinary fashion last time out, Everton’s fans have had a fortnight to stew over the manner in which Sean Dyche and his players somehow snatched a morale-sapping defeat from the jaws of apparently easy victory against Bournemouth.
They travel to face Aston Villa, whose club hierarchy incensed fans with the recent announcement that tickets to see their club compete in the Champions League this season will be prohibitively expensive for many season ticket holders who would like to see their team play in Europe’s top competition for the first time in 30 years.
With a trip to Switzerland to face Young Boys on Tuesday looming, Unai Emery will need to keep his players focussed on the more mundane domestic business in hand, while Dyche has to try and pick his off the floor in order to kick-start a season that has been little short of disastrous for Everton so far. Kick-off is at 5.30pm but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
