Aston Villa toiled for an hour against Everton before an electric nine-minute spell saw us take a 3-0 lead and go on to secure all three points.
The two sides were quite evenly-matched in the opening 60 minutes, as both had chances to take the lead and offered different kinds of threat having enjoyed periods of time on top.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa produce electric spell to see off Everton in 3-0 win
While Everton failed to take their opportunities, a particularly dangerous one came just minutes before our opener through Demarai Gray, Villa eventually found the quality that was lacking in the final third to score three quick goals.
As seen in the images below, Douglas Luiz and Danny Ings deserve a lot of credit for our win, as while the finishing was clinical and Leon Bailey’s delivery for the second was excellent too, it was these two passes which ultimately carved Everton open and made the points safe for us.
Class finishing, but two superb assists yesterday from Douglas Luiz and Danny Ings.
Great movement from Cash and Bailey as well, but the passes to find them crucial 👌🏽#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/fpKmnNOilE
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) September 19, 2021
For the first goal, Matty Cash makes an excellent run forward and beats his man, but it’s the timing and weight of Luiz’s pass that sets him through into the open space which subsequently allows him to cut inside and rifle his left-footed shot into the back of the net.
The Brazilian midfielder’s role and position changed slightly after Marvelous Nakamba came on, who also played a pivotal role in the win having anchored the midfield and allowed others to get forward, with Luiz benefitting and getting forward a little bit more on that right side, and we saw his ability in the opposition half during that time.
Ings was the provider for the second, as he took four Everton players out of equation with one pass as he lofted a through-ball over to the left flank for Bailey to latch onto.
The 24-year-old still had plenty to do as he raced clear, composed himself and then fired in his first goal for the club, but it was the quick-thinking and execution from Ings which made it all possible.
Villa were poor in the final third in the first hour or so, as they simply couldn’t find the end product with their final delivery to take advantage of dangerous situations.
Particularly if we continue with the 3-5-2 system, the importance of Cash and Matt Targett in an attacking sense grows, and so they have to be better in that aspect of their game moving forward.
We saw what Cash is capable of, but it’s the quality around them that made the difference to pick out the right passes, and it’s hoped that Villa have found a standard now and will not only maintain that, but go beyond and click into gear to become a really dangerous attacking unit.