Everton 0-0 Aston Villa
by James Nalton
at Goodison Park
THERE was plenty to rouse the crowd and players at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon, but no goals, as Everton and Aston Villa had to settle for a point each in a fiery encounter.
The best chance of the game fell to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the first half while Villa substitute Jhon Duran glanced a shot just wide in the second.
In the end, both defences did enough to keep a clean sheet.
Villa played some good football in the first half while Everton were disjointed, but it was still the home side who carved out the best chance.
A nice through-ball from Arnaut Danjuma with the outside of his boot sent Calvert-Lewin through one one-on-one with Emiliano Martinez.
The striker is due a goal, but his attempt was unconvincing and gave the considerable figure of Martinez every chance to make the save with an outstretched leg, which he did.
Villa had seen a goal disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR check which led both sets of fans to voice in unison their disapproval at the process.
Calvert-Lewin hasn’t scored since October and only has four goals in 20 appearances in all competitions this season. He was withdrawn with just over an hour played and replaced by Beto after another disappointing outing.
The first half had been brewing, with neither team holding back on the challenge. Then the scrappy nature of the second half saw tempers regularly boil over.
James Tarkowski had a head wound patched up in the first half following a stray elbow from Ollie Watkins, and Alex Moreno felt the full force of one of the Everton defender's tackles in the second.
Vitalii Mykolenko finished the game with a bandaged head, making his great block late on from a shot from substitute Matty Cash all the more heroic.
Cash gave Villa an extra attacking threat down the right and his cross for Duran almost produced a winner, but the forward’s touch trickled by the far post.
Abdoulaye Doucoure then had the ball in the net but was called back for offside as the teams at the opposite ends of the table each took away a point for their cause.
