The Toffees slump to yet another home defeat as Aston Villa came out 2-1 winners at Goodison.

The Blues were hit with bad news before a ball had even been kicked as chief creator James Rodriguez took a knock in the warm up to extend his injury woes for this season. Alex Iwobi was called upon to replace the Colombian in the starting eleven.

It was a bright opening for Everton as some good play down the left saw Richarlison find an open Iwobi who had his shot blocked by a swarm of Villa defenders.

The Toffees looked to be panicking on the ball in the early stages, having shaky moments whilst passing round the back as well the midfield seemingly unable to play simple five yard passes.

The lethargic play came to bite the home side as Mason Holgate was caught dallying on the ball and was pressed by Ollie Watkins who won the ball and slotted calmly past the on rushing Jordan Pickford.

The equaliser was found in the eighteenth minute when Lucas Digne delivered a superb corner where Calvert-Lewin responded with an equally superb header at the back post.

The game seemed to open up after that with both teams going end to end seeing Watkins having a chance which was quickly followed by a DCL header that was well kept out by the Aston Villa keeper.

Everton were caught out at the back on numerous occasions as Pickford was forced into save after save to deny the likes of Traore. The backline seemed unorganised and far too open at times.

Villa were unlucky as Ross Barkley found himself in acres of space before hitting a sweet strike toward the bottom left, only to be denied by the post.

Watkins had yet another chance toward the end of the first half as the ball fell luckily into the path of the striker who just dragged his shot wide of the right post.

The second half continued much like the first with plenty of space being afforded to the attacking players as Everton started with confidence going forward.

Richarlison had a golden opportunity when a backwards header from Konsa set the Brazilian through only to fire wide.  

Everton adopted a long ball strategy which gave the Villa defence some problems with the physicality of the top two. The Blues were also pressing well which is something we haven’t seen this season and it was a welcome sight.

The tempo slowed down toward the end of the half as the match became a cagey affair with both teams determined to not drop points.

The visitors found their second goal through Anwar El Ghazi who wasn’t closed down quick enough by Allan and bent the ball beautifully into the top right corner. A goal that very much felt like the winning one.

Josh King had a chance in the 85th minute after he skipped past a defender before fizzing his shot to the side of Martinez’s post.

Another game, another disappointing result for Everton fans as we fail to take the opportunity to break into the top six yet again.

The performance was flat for large parts with no real threat going forward without the creativity of James Rodriguez. Even our defence was poor today as Watkins bullied Holgate and Godfrey, constantly getting in behind and progressing his team up the pitch.

Only Pickford, Allan and Digne can hold their heads high after that game as the rest of the team looked as if their seasons have finished, content with another season of mid table mediocrity.

Carlo has to take some blame as well for his peculiar substitutions, opting to bring on Fabian Delph when we need a goal and only bringing on Josh King when we are losing which has become a common theme.

That makes it only three wins at home since October which is a quite damning statistic. The disparity between our home and away performances are staggering and simply unbelievable how a team can differ so greatly depending on what ground they play on.

Fans who are expecting European football next season might have to face the fact that Everton simply don’t deserve it and they would struggle in a European competition. This summer window needs to be successful in terms of getting rid of deadwood such as Holgate, Gomes and Iwobi and bringing in quality on the level of James so the workload isn’t all on him.

Player Ratings:
Jordan Pickford – 8
Lucas Digne – 7
Ben Godfrey – 5
Mason Holgate – 3
Seamus Coleman – 6
Alex Iwobi – 5
Allan – 7
Andre Gomes- 5
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 6
Richarlison – 5
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 7

Subs:
Joshua King – N/A
Fabian Delph – 5
Bernard – N/A