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Aston Villa missed the chance to put pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Everton.
Thierno Barry’s second-half goal landed the spoils and broke Villa’s 11-game winning run at Villa Park, meaning Arsenal will end the weekend seven points clear at the top.
Barry’s clever 59th-minute winner came courtesy of a defensive howler by Pau Torres, a goalkeeping error by Emiliano Martinez.
There was a shade of controversy minutes before the opening goal as James Garner, already on a booking, looked to have cynically fouled Morgan Rogers on the edge of the area, but no foul was awarded.
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Should James Garner have been sent off against Aston Villa?
It was a disjointed performance from Villa that lacked quality in the final third although Evann Guessand did hit the crossbar and the otherwise wasteful Morgan Rogers drew a spectacular save out of Jordan Pickford.
David Moyes will be relieved his side were able to get the job done after they had a goal controversially ruled out in the first half after Harrison Armstrong was deemed to have been interfering from an offside position after Jake O’Brien had headed in.
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The Super Sunday team discuss why Jake O’Brien’s goal against Aston Villa was disallowed for offside.
Considering the mass absentees for Everton, this was a fantastic result and execution of a gameplan by Moyes.
The Toffees are now just four points behind city rivals Liverpool – who currently occupy fourth position – and are also in contention for European contention.
Emery: We are not top five contenders
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Jamie Redknapp and Ashley Young were left bemused by Unai Emery’s post-match interview after Aston Villa’s defeat to Everton.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports:
“We are still not being contenders. There are other teams with more potential than us.
“We lost a very good opportunity. We have a lot of points. We did a very good season until now, we will get balance.”
Moyes: A magnificent win
Everton boss David Moyes speaking to Sky Sports:
“It was magnificent. It has been a difficult week today but they turned it around today.
“We have Aston Villa and we were coming into it not in our best run but we put a lot of work in to try and find a way to combat Villa.
“We knew if we didn’t do something, we’d be in trouble. Coming here is never easy.
“We had our moments and they had theirs. Overall, I’m really happy.”
