Aston Villa Beat Everton 1-0 At Goodson Park

 But, despite all the clichés about working harder under ‘Big Dunc’, Everton failed to live up to the pre-match hype, as they failed to register a first-half shot. 

 Instead, it was the visitors, who went close when Buendía saw his strike from the edge of the box palmed away by Jordan Pickford, before Ollie Watkins later stabbed his shot wide from close-range. 

The chances continued as the England centre-forward saw his point-blank header denied by his international counterpart Pickford, who showed wonderful athleticism, and later stopped Philippe Coutinho on his first Villa start. 

But Gerrard’s men eventually got their reward on the stroke of HT when Buendía capitalised on poor marking from a Digne’ corner, darting to the near post and then heading home the opener. 

 Rafael Benítez became the fifth Everton manager to be sacked in six years earlier this week, and Goodison Park certainly felt different with an Evertonian in the dugout, as the hosts pressed for an equaliser. 

Roared on by the home faithful, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were unable to hit the target. 

Tyrone Mings then preserved the Villa lead when he later cleared Ben Godfrey's header off the line, with Yerry Mina twice sending a header the wrong side of the post, as Big Dunc’s side were unable to find an equaliser in front of the Gwladys Street End. 

 Everton have  now lost 10 of their previous 13 EPL matches leaving the 5 points off the drop zone.