Aston Villa thrashes woeful Everton for first win of the season

Aston Villa grabbed its first win of the season in stunning fashion as it thrashed Everton 4-0 at Villa Park. Unai Emery’s side dominated from start to finish as they outplayed Everton all over the pitch.

The Merseyside outfit looked out of sorts. The Toffees struggled to find any sort of rhythm and will hope they can bounce back in the coming weeks.

John McGinn opened the scoring for the hosts in the 18th minute. His fine finish followed Leon Bailey’s superb cutback in the penalty box. The Everton defense looked shellshocked and was put under pressure whenever the Villa front three looked to attack in the final third.

It wasn’t long before Aston Villa made it 2-0. Six minutes from the opening goal, Jordan Pickford brought down Ollie Watkins in the box to hand the hosts a clear penalty, from which Douglas Luiz stepped up to double his side’s lead.

It was almost 3-0 in the 34^th minute, but Pickford made amends with a superb save from Moussa Diaby’s stunning volley. The England keeper kept his side in the game by palming the Frenchman’s shot on the bar as Everton went into halftime trailing by two goals.

Six minutes after the restart, it got from bad to worse for Everton as Bailey made it 3-0 as the visitors’ backline switched off following a throw-in. Lucas Digne acted quickly to release Bailey on the left wing and the Jamaican took advantage of Michael Keane’s sloppy defending to rifle his shot past Pickford to put the game beyond doubt.

Aston Villa completes rout of Everton

Substitute Jhon Duran made it 4-0 for Emery’s side after just 50 seconds from coming on. The Colombian acted quickly to take advantage of Everton’s poor throw in the final third. The 19-year-old kept his calm to slot past Pickford to cap off a perfect day for the hosts. Also, Duran’s goal was the second-quickest goal ever by a substitute in the Premier League. Villa’s John Carew set the record in 2009 in another game against Everton.

Emery’s side looks to build on this win as it travels to newly promoted Burnley next weekend. For Everton, it is back to the drawing board for Sean Dyche. Now, he must prepare his side to host Wolverhampton Wanderers.

PHOTO: IMAGO / Sportsphoto