Everton defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park to knock them out of the Carabao Cup in the third round.
James Garner broke the tie in the first half, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin increased their lead early in the second. Boubacar Kamara cut Villa’s deficit in half late on, but the Toffees held on to defeat Unai Emery’s side in all competitions for the fourth time this season.
Villa came into the game off the back of a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, while Everton won 3-1 away at Brentford to collect their first three points of the Premier League season. Sean Dyche’s team got off to a fast start at Villa Park, capitalizing on some poor play by the hosts in their own penalty box.
Arnaut Danjuma threaded a lovely pass to Garner, who smashed past the Villa ‘keeper in the 15th minute after Robin Olsen failed to clear his lines after controlling a heavy pass from Leander Dendoncker.
At halftime, Emery introduced Ollie Watkins, Boubacar Kamara, and Lucas Digne in place of John McGinn, Dendoncker, and Jhon Duran, who had played as a left-back in the first half.
Everton’s second goal of the night came five minutes into the second period, when Calvert-Lewin was allowed to run in on goal after Tielemans delivered a short pass into Ezri Konsa’s half. The striker easily finished past Olsen.
Just after Calvert-Lewin’s strike, Moussa Diaby was presented with a fantastic opportunity to cut Villa’s deficit, but Jordan Pickford saved excellently. Villa did score late in the game, when Boubacar Kamara’s deflected attempt beat Everton’s and England’s number one.
Everton’s victory this evening was the first time they have beaten Villa in all competitions in 10 encounters since being relegated to the Premier League in 2019.
