Aston Villa vs. Everton: Frank Lampard loses to Steven Gerrard

Aston Villa vs. Everton: Frank Lampard loses to Steven Gerrard

Aston Villa defeated Everton 2-1 on Saturday, earning their first points of the new Premier League campaign.

The former captain of Liverpool won the first managerial match between Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard because his team had a legitimate claim to the victory despite a tense conclusion at Villa Park.

There were few clear-cut chances in the first hour as the sweltering conditions had an impact on the pace of the game. However, a superb strike from Danny Ings in the first half broke the score.

When Emiliano Buendia, who had replaced the injured Philippe Coutinho, brilliantly connected with Ollie Watkins to extend the lead in the final minutes, it appeared as though Villa would easily get three points.

However, Amadou Onana of Everton, making his debut, forced an own goal from former Toffee Lucas Digne to set up an exciting finish in which Emiliano Martinez made crucial saves from Onana and Anthony Gordon and the returning Tyrone Mings made a crucial intervention to prevent Salomon Rondon from scoring a tap-in.

Buendia makes case to Gerrard after Coutinho troubles

Apart from avoiding Ings before he scored the opening goal, Coutinho had little effect on the game. The game’s cagey atmosphere probably didn’t suit the former Barcelona player, but it was significant that Villa’s offense increased when he left the field injured.

If Buendia saw this as his opportunity to compete for a starting position under Gerrard, he seized it brilliantly. It was no surprise that Buendia was able to tap in for the second goal thanks to the Argentine’s superb one-two move with Watkins.

Onana a bright spark but Everton attack is far too blunt

For his Premier League debut, Onana was a lively player off the bench, and it was his savage run and cross that caused Digne to put the ball in his own net. The 20-year-old, who was signed from Lille this week for £33 million/$40 million, provided the visitors’ team with the box-to-box presence during his brief appearance on the field.

Still, this performance and result showed how desperately short Everton are in attack. Losing Richarlison to Tottenham Hotspur and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to injury did not help Frank Lampard, but persisting with a 5-4-1 in a bid to sure up the defence, while deploying Anthony Gordon as a loan striker, just isn’t paying dividends. Given how dangerous Everton looked from corners, it seemed bizarre Lampard didn’t turn to Salomon Rondon sooner.

Relegation battle looms for Gerrard and Lampard

As players, Gerrard and Lampard spent their career competing for the biggest trophies. As Villa and Everton managers, they might be battling just to stay in the division.

That might sound premature after just two games of the season, but the warning signs were there for each side in 2021/22 and, on this evidence, there has been little improvement. Lampard has committed to making Everton more robust at the back at the expense of fielding more attack-minded players, yet both Villa goals came from the visitors giving the ball away in the middle of the pitch and they could have conceded more.

Villa, meanwhile, relied on Everton mistakes for their best openings and they looked shaky every time a corner came into the box despite the return of Mings. Each manager has plenty to do if they don’t want 2022/23 to become a season all about survival.

Aston Villa vs. Everton result

1H 2H Final
Aston Villa       1    2     2
Everton             0    1     1

Goals: AVL — Ings (31st min)

AVL — Buendia (85th min)

EVE — Digne OG (87th min)

Aston Villa vs. Everton commentary, highlights

FULLTIME: Aston Villa 2-1 Everton. The first managerial meeting between Gerrard and Lampard ends in victory for the ex-Liverpool captain. It was a frantic finish, but Everton just couldn’t find an equaliser, and Villa get their first points of the season.

90+7 mins: Gordon chance! Martinez parries the youngster’s effort and catches the loose ball after the Everton man’s first attempt was blocked. Will that be it?

90+5 mins: Onana with another chance! He latches onto Rondon’s header down but he just can’t get it under control and it’s behind for a corner from Calum Chambers’ challenge. Martinez easily takes the delivery.

90th min: Mings to the rescue! Gordon races into the Villa box and brings a save from Martinez. It looks like Rondon might have a tap-in, but Mings slides in to intervene and the keeper gathers. What a finish to this game! We’ll have at least another five minutes, too…

89th min: It should be 3-1! Villa break from an Everton corner and Watkins is played through to the left of Pickford’s goal, but the England goalkeeper does well to block his shot from six yards.

87th min: GOAL! 2-1!! Somehow, Everton are back in this! Onana makes amends, powering his way to the byline before squeezing the ball across goal. It eludes Mings and Martinez and ends up going in off former Everton man Lucas Digne. Game on!

85th min: GOAL! 2-0 TO VILLA! Once again, it comes from Everton losing the ball up the pitch. This time, it’s Onana who is dispossessed in the centre circle, and Buendia takes over: he slides in Watkins and races onto the return pass across the box to slot home, with Pickford out of position. Villa are heading for three points.

80th min: Lampard’s got to gamble now: on comes Onana for his Premier League debut, along with Dele Alli. They need something, anything, to spark the attack to life.

75th min: Almost 2-0! Buendia’s half-volley bounces up and over Pickford and is cleared off the line by Mykolenko. It’s Villa who look the more threatening now.

73rd min: What a hit, Diego Carlos! The centre-back takes a whack at a loose ball from a corner and it hits Patterson on the thigh. Pickford would have struggled to reach that.

70th min: It’s time for a drinks break. Before then, Iwobi almost found Gray’s run with a clever ball, but it was just too strong. It’s hard to see where an Everton equaliser will come from unless they can win a few more corners…

65th min: The game has hit a real lull, not helped by those injuries. Villa manage to find Ings from a quick free-kick, but his reverse pass towards Watkins is cleared.

62nd min: And now Coady is struggling. The Everton defender met a McGinn shot with his head and seemed to hurt his calf as he landed. It looks like he’s staying on, though. Meanwhile, Salomon Rondon is on for McNeil.

58th min: Problems here for Villa: Coutinho is down and receiving treatment, and Emiliano Buendia is warming up and receiving instructions. Coutinho is back on his feet, but he can’t continue, and Buendia is on.

55th min: Good save, Martinez! Gray cuts into the box from the left and lets fly, right-footed, but Martinez parries the shot. It was straight at the Villa keeper but he dealt with it well.

53rd min: Better from Everton as they start to build some more concerted pressure. Cash makes a brilliant block from Patterson after another corner into the Villa box isn’t dealt with properly.

48th min: McGinn tries his luck with a half-volley from 20 yards that sails over the bar. Everton create space for Vitaliy Mykolenko down the left, but his low cross is cleared.

46th min: We’re back underway — no changes for either side at the break.

HALFTIME: Villa take a 1-0 lead into the break, and you’d say it’s deserved on the balance of play. Ings’ finish was the only real bit of quality in a rather pedestrian first half (not helped by the hot conditions). Lampard has some work to do.

45+2 min: A chance for a second! Ramsey teases a low ball across the six-yard box and Coutinho just can’t reach it on the slide. That could have been a huge blow to Everton on the stroke of halftime.

45th min: Villa yet again struggle to deal with a corner. The ball bounces around the box, Davies attempts a spectacular volley and gets it wrong, and in the end, the hosts win a free-kick for a high boot. There was a quick VAR check for a possible handball, but it’s hard to see why.

41st min: Everton are trying to be a bit more assertive in possession, but Emiliano Martinez remains untroubled in the Villa goal. Gordon gives the ball away and Davies has to foul Watkins to stop the break, earning himself a booking.

34th min: It gets worse for Everton: Abdoulaye Doucoure has had to go off due to injury and is replaced by Tom Davies.

31st min: GOAL! ASTON VILLA TAKE THE LEAD! It’s an absolutely thumping finish from Danny Ings. McNeil loses the ball and Villa release Watkins down the right. Ings and Philippe Coutinho seemed to get in each other’s way from the cut-back, but the striker turns and rifles a shot past the helpless Pickford with his weaker left foot.

24th min: And just like that, Everton have the ball in the net… but the offside flag is up! Villa have looked shaky from corners and they didn’t deal with this one, with Gordon turning the ball in from close range. VAR confirms he was offside, though, so we’re at 0-0 as we go for the first drinks break.

23rd min: No chances to speak of so far. Everton are keeping Villa at arm’s length fairly comfortably, and McNeil has just wasted a really promising counter-attack with a poor pass to Demarai Gray.

17th min: Anthony Gordon turns and sprints away down the Villa right. Mings gets across to block his progress and seemed to catch the Everton man in the face, but Michael Oliver saw nothing wrong with it. It’s safe to say Frank Lampard was not happy.

13th min: Villa appeal for a penalty after Matty Cash went down under pressure, but there’s nothing doing there. Contact was outside the box, anyway.

10th min: A nice turn and attempted throughball from Dwight McNeil is just thwarted by Mings. Ramsey makes another promising run down the other end, but Digne’s cross deflects to Jordan Pickford, who gathers, looks for the counter-attack… and kicks the ball straight out of play.

7th mins Jacob Ramsey and Lucas Digne have made good early inroads down the Everton right, although the former was stopped by a fine challenge from Mason Holgate. That could be an interesting battle. Everton build their first attack but it comes to nothing.

3rd min: A decent early chance for Villa as Diego Carlos heads over from John McGinn’s corner. He leapt above Alex Iwobi there but could only nod over the crossbar.

KICKOFF: We’re off and running in England’s West Midlands! Everton’s bright yellow strip is standing out like a Flake wrapper, which is kind of appropriate given Villa Park is just seven miles from Cadbury World.

20 mins to KO: We’re fast approaching kickoff at a very warm Villa Park, where temperatures are already hitting 28C/82F and are forecast to keep rising. It’s the kind of game where spells of possession could be key simply to give your team a breather.

40 mins to KO: Gerrard had challenged Mings to prove he deserved a place in the Villa team after first stripping him of the captaincy and then leaving him out altogether. Well, it seems the England international has responded well.

“This week, he’s trained extremely well,” Gerrard said to BT Sport. “Having his profile and his first contacts today hopefully will be very important for us.”

TEAM NEWS:

Villa make two changes from the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth — and there’s a big one at the back: Tyrone Mings comes into the team in place of Ezri Konsa. In attack, Ollie Watkins starts ahead of Leon Bailey.

Aston Villa lineup (4-3-3): Martinez (GK) — Cash, Diego Carlos, Mings, Digne — McGinn, Kamara, Ramsey — Coutinho, Ings, Watkins.

Aston Villa subs: Olsen (GK), Konsa, Chambers, Augustinsson, Young, Douglas Luiz, Buendia, Bailey, Archer.

For Everton, Conor Coady makes his full debut, while Amadou Onana is on the bench. With Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey out, Mason Holgate comes into a patched-up defence.

Everton lineup (5-4-1): Pickford (GK) — Patterson, Holgate, Tarkowski, Coady, Mykolenko — Gray, Doucoure, Iwobi, McNeil — Gordon.

Everton subs: Begovic (GK), Coleman, Keane, Vinagre, Mills, Davies, Onana, Alli, Rondon.

1 hr 20 minutes to KO: Both these teams started the season with defeats: Everton were edged out at home by Chelsea, while Villa were beaten at Bournemouth. Gerrard’s men attempted 13 shots from open play on the south coast, a figure bettered only by Tottenham Hotspur (15) and Newcastle United (17) last week. That might suggest they deserved better, until you look at their expected goals figure from open play, which was just 0.58. That tells you they need to create some better quality openings if they are to find a way past Everton today.

1 hr 40 minutes to KO: Everton will debut their new third kit today (let’s just say it’s polarising opinion), and we could see a couple of new faces in Toffees attire. Conor Coady and Amadou Onana could make their debuts against Villa, and there’s particular excitement about the latter. Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez told Sky Sports he was “probably one of the most talented young players [at 20 years old] in European football”.

2 Hrs to KO: Fans of Premier League football in the early 21st century have reasons to rejoice today: not only is it Aston Villa vs. Everton, it’s Steven Gerrard vs. Frank Lampard! A match between two struggling sides desperate to improve and lay down a marker for the season, with tedious arguments over England’s best midfielders rumbling on in the background… what more could you ask for from an early Saturday kickoff?

Aston Villa vs. Everton lineups

Villa make two changes from the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth — and there’s a big one at the back: Tyrone Mings comes into the team in place of Ezri Konsa. In attack, Ollie Watkins starts ahead of Leon Bailey.

Aston Villa lineup (4-3-3): Martinez (GK) — Cash, Diego Carlos, Mings, Digne — McGinn, Kamara, Ramsey — Coutinho, Ings, Watkins.

Aston Villa subs: Olsen (GK), Konsa, Chambers, Augustinsson, Young, Douglas Luiz, Buendia, Bailey, Archer.

For Everton, Conor Coady makes his full debut, while Amadou Onana is on the bench. With Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey out, Mason Holgate comes into a patched-up defence.

Everton lineup (5-4-1): Pickford (GK) — Patterson, Holgate, Tarkowski, Coady, Mykolenko — Gray, Doucoure, Iwobi, McNeil — Gordon.

Everton subs: Begovic (GK), Coleman, Keane, Vinagre, Mills, Davies, Onana, Alli, Rondon.

What time is Aston Villa vs. Everton?
Aston Villa play host to Everton at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK. It kicks off at 12:30 p.m. BST on Saturday, August 13.

UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and BT Sport streaming and TV platforms, with selected matches on Amazon Prime. This match will be shown on BT Sport.

USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on fuboTV. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers. This match will be shown on USA Network and live streamed on NBC and fuboTV.

Australia: Fans in Australia can stream matches live and on demand on Optus Sport.