Villa For Europe?!

Was this the same team that we have seen labouring so much these past few weeks? Was this the same Barkley that seemed to have been stuck in left-over Everton toffee? Was this a resurrection of the players because they believe their skipper is soon to reappear?

Well, I'm not sure what the real answer is to any of those questions! All I know is that Villa could well have been 4-2 up at half-time, the woodwork having intervened twice, and Pickford pulling off 2 or 3 England-class saves, some amidst old-fashioned goalmouth excitement.

Apart from that, what about the crispness and fluidity of Villa's movement? This was another class of football altogether through most of this match, with Barkley suddenly finding his feet after weeks looking nothing like his early Villa form.

However - and there has to be a 'but' - was it partly due to Everton giving Villa the space they needed to gain confidence? Their central defenders certainly looked slow and ponderous and Watkins gaily took advantage of that, muscling his way past one to slip the ball past Pickford. And he very nearly repeated the dose not long after.

The second half was not quite so fluid as Everton seemed to have been told by their boss to not give Villa so much room, but after 15 minutes of not being sure of which way the match might go, Villa came back and were very much worthy winners. In fact, the scoreline should have been greater, with Everton hardly troubling Martinez in the second half.

Well done Villa. Even El Ghazi came back second half, after an indifferent first period, to trouble the Toffees' defence, and took his chance very well. Traore - the other wide man - also showed what a lovely player he can be on several occasions, setting up Barkley's run in the first half and then providing El Ghazi with his scoring chance. Ollie was - well - just Ollie.

After saying all that, I will add that I always feel that this fixture is always an interesting one to watch. I feel there is somehow an ingrained attitude between the two clubs that stems from the fact that this is the oldest - the most long-running - league fixture in the world.

From my deep researches into the Villa's history, I sense that there has been this respect (and also sporting competitiveness) that goes back 130 years plus, including that great Cup Final of 1897. Other matches, such as that wonderful match and last-seconds winner by Ashley Young at Goodison some 13 years ago, and a 3-3 draw at Villa Park in 2009, fairly took the breath away. The elderly distant cousin I took to that last-mentioned match (a Villa fan going back some 70 years) nearly had a heart attack, so much was he carried away by it having not seen the Villa play for 50 years.

There was even a match between the two clubs in the 1920s when Villa were down to 8 fit men on the field and yet held Everton 1-1, finally conceding two goals in the last few minutes.

Yes, I always look upon this fixture with some anticipation. Next week - against Man U - may be a different kind of match, but if Jack is back for that one, it will be all the more interesting!

Villa for Europe this year? Perhaps not, but at least a top-half finish looks more likely now.

UTV!

PS I was disappointed that Keinan was again benched, but the match was such that even that disappointment got lost in the moment.