Moreno denied by VAR as gritty Everton hold Aston Villa to goalless draw
Unai Emery had eyes on joining Liverpool at the top of the Premier League but Aston Villa were unable to fulfil their manager’s wishes on a dreary afternoon at Goodison Park. A lengthy VAR review to disallow a fine goal from Alex Moreno did not dampen Emery’s mood or conviction that Villa are on an upward curve, but this was not the performance of a title contender.
“We deserved more than we achieved but I’m happy because we are improving our level,” the Villa manager said.
“We had the opportunity to get to 45 points so one point is not enough but I think the players are feeling comfortable and confident. We controlled the game and maybe created more chances than we normally do away, but we were not clinical.”
Everton halted a run of three successive league defeats with a merited point in the 212th edition of the most played fixture in English football. Sean Dyche’s side were mainly on the back foot but had the best chance of the contest when Dominic Calvert-Lewin found himself one-on-one with Emiliano Martínez just before half-time. The Villa goalkeeper saved well, Calvert-Lewin’s goal drought extended to a 13th game, and though an offside Abdoulaye Doucouré did beat Martínez late on the threat from Everton was limited in the extreme.
Dyche said: “Our mentality and physicality were good, as was our desire to keep a clean sheet against a team that could have gone joint top today. That shows how good a season they’re having. We could have done better on the ball and the chance on half-time could have changed the feel of the game. I told Dom that the further away it goes [his run without a goal] the closer it gets.”
Having weathered early Everton pressure Villa took control of the first half, with Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara dictating proceedings from midfield. Their reward appeared to arrive in the form of a delightful goal from Moreno, who swept the sweetest of shots into Jordan Pickford’s bottom corner after Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey caught Everton with a wellworked short corner. Bailey looked offside when exchanging passes with John McGinn, who teed up the left-back on the edge of the penalty area. Four minutes later, VAR confirmed what the naked eye could see.
It was a ridiculous amount of time to disallow the goal, with VAR checking both the Bailey offside and whether Clément Lenglet had fouled Arnaut Danjuma as they wrestled at the corner. Villa fans responded to the infuriating pause in proceedings by singing “VAR is fucking shit”. It says everything about the technology that is seriously damaging the game, certainly for the matchgoing supporter, that even the Everton fans joined in with the chant when their team were the beneficiaries. A relaxed Emery countered: “The most important thing is that the right decision is made. If it takes a long time you have to accept Villa created other good opportunities to break the deadlock as the hosts sat increasingly deep. Pickford denied Ollie Watkins with his legs and produced an excellent save to tip away Bailey’s first-time effort towards the bottom corner.
Everton’s moment arrived when Danjuma played Calvert-Lewin clean through with an exquisite pass. Martínez stood his ground and blocked the striker’s low shot, then instantly bettered the save when tipping James Garner’s follow-up effort around a post. “Dom hit it well, hard and low” Dyche said. “It was a good save from the keeper.”
The second half was drab by comparison. The commitment of both teams could not be faulted but incident was painfully lacking, aside from a brief flare-up when James Tarkowski cleaned out Moreno while winning the ball with a fierce challenge. Lenglet and the Everton centre-half, cut above the eye earlier in the game by a stray elbow from Watkins, were booked for their parts in the shoving match that followed. Tarkowski also caught Moussa Diaby with a similarly strong tackle inside the Everton box but neither the referee, David Coote, nor VAR were moved by the forward’s appeals for a penalty.
Villa came closest to igniting the spectacle and winning it late on. Matty Cash, on as a substitute, looked set to score when Moreno’s low cross was turned into his path eight yards out, but Vitaliy Mykolenko, head bandaged after an aerial collision with Tarkowski, launched himself in the way of Cash’s shot to block superbly. The rebound fell to McGinn, but his effort also struck a royal blue shirt before being hacked away by Séamus Coleman.
A giant banner of Coleman had adorned the Gwladys Street end before kick-off: “15 years of Seamus” it read, on the day the 35-year-old broke the Premier League appearance record for Everton with his 355th game for the club. A great achievement by a fantastic servant and one of the smartest transfers in Premier League history. The occasion, however, will not live long in the memory, although it could have been different had substitute Jhon Durán guided Cash’s cross inside the far post. He missed by inches and, for the first time in his entire Premier League career of 97 matches, Emery had presided over a goalless draw.