Aston Villa marked our last trip to Goodison Park with a 1-0 win as Ollie Watkins secured all three points having struck his winning goal in the second half.
The expectation was that it would be a difficult assignment given the return of David Moyes prior to this encounter, but Villa did well and eventually came out on top.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Everton: Watkins decisive, influential figure class above
That’s now three consecutive wins across all competitions to start the new year, and hopefully it has given us a solid foundation on which we can continue to build with big games against Arsenal and Monaco next up.
For now though, this was an important win to keep our momentum going, and Unai Emery will no doubt take plenty of positives away from the performance.
Important to register clean sheet, win on the road
It really is a massive result on the road as we strive to improve our away form, while the clean sheet is a hugely important bonus on top of the win.
Villa have been far too porous defensively so far this season, particularly in the Premier League, as we have the worst defensive record of the top nine teams in the standings currently.
If we want to progress and compete at the top level, that has to change, and this was a disciplined, organised and committed defensive effort from every player to secure a shut-out, which set the foundation for us to seal a hard-fought win.
Further, we needed to start well given the expectation that Everton would be up for this and produce a reaction after the appointment of Moyes, and we were patient, composed and took the sting out of it early to control proceedings.
Mings influence in defence making crucial difference
A fundamental part of our improved defensive effort is the return of Tyrone Mings to our backline, as he was a dominant presence at Goodison Park.
The Villa centre-half cleared countless crosses into the box, limited Everton’s threat through the middle in conjunction with Ezri Konsa, and was calm and composed in possession, albeit not as effective as Pau Torres in that aspect.
However, we’ve needed more steeliness and solidity at the back, and the Villa stalwart is delivering that along with his teammates as we’ve reverted back to a tried and tested backline, and hopefully we can make keeping a clean sheet a more frequent habit moving forward.
Kamara is a class above
There aren’t too many superlatives left to describe just how good Boubacar Kamara is.
As he continues to play regularly and build up his match fitness and sharpness after a lengthy injury absence last year, he is only getting better and more influential in the Villa midfield.
His positional awareness is second to none as he is always seemingly in the right place at the right time to disrupt and regain possession, while he is composed and has the technical ability to help us control and set the tempo.
Mix in his tactical versatility to drop deeper into a right-sided defensive role while we have possession to open things up, he is re-establishing himself as a pillar of this Villa team.
Big goal for Watkins
He won’t be happy with his big miss in the first half as that could have proven to be costly on another night, but importantly he kept going and eventually emerged as the match winner.
Watkins has to be more clinical and ruthless in front of goal as he’s missed far too many sitters so far this season, but his goal in the second half will hopefully prove to be a big moment for him to get back to scoring consistently,
His work ethic is exceptional and his movement off the ball and ability to hold-up and link play together is crucial, but as he looks to continue to fend Jhon Duran off and keep his starting berth, he has to show more of the composure and clinical finishing displayed in his winner.
Villa continue to build momentum
As noted above, that’s now three consecutive wins across all competitions, and so it does feel as though Villa are starting to build some momentum as we improve our level of performance too.
That will be thoroughly tested against Arsenal and Monaco in our next two games, but we go into those showdowns with renewed confidence and belief as we strive to hit top form going into a critical period of the season.
Keeping a clean sheet will only contribute to that positive feeling, and so after what feels like a disappointing and underwhelming first half of the campaign in some regards, we sit just three points off the top four in the Premier League, well placed in the Champions League to advance and remain in the hunt for the FA Cup.
Now it’s time to go through the gears and really push on in the months where it really matters, with Morgan Rogers even conceding after the game that we still have levels to reach this season and we’re getting better.
