With both Arsenal and Manchester City dropping points on Saturday, Villa were presented with the perfect opportunity to assert their intentions in the title race, particularly as they were previously unbeaten against Everton in league action since their return to the Premier League in 2019.
But the visitors almost provided a major shock just 11 seconds in when Merlin Rohl took on Barry’s layoff and prodded against the post - the earliest striking of the woodwork in a Premier League match since records began.
Villa did have some joy, including when Morgan Rogers scooped over a few minutes later, but the Toffees soon started to dominate.
They even had the ball in the net just after the half-hour mark when Jake O’Brien nodded past Emiliano Martínez, but it was determined that Harrison Armstrong was in an offside position and impacting play when the cross was played in.
Villa tried to take advantage of the reprieve and saw Rogers’ close-range effort deflected away by O’Brien, before Evann Guessand looped his header against the crossbar from Youri Tielemans’ delivery.
The hosts looked to have improved further after the interval, but they still found themselves on the end of a shock deficit just before the hour mark. Dwight McNeil’s initial shot was only parried by Martínez, and Barry was first to react, calmly chipping over the Villa goalkeeper and into the net.
Villa responded with a barrage of attempts, and came closest when Rogers’ curling effort was stopped from finding the top corner by a flying save from Jordan Pickford.
Knowing that their glittering home run was about to come to an end, Villa became increasingly frustrated and failed to salvage anything in the late stages. David Moyes’ first personal league victory over Emery will be particularly pleasing given his side move into the top half after winning four of their last six away league matches.
Meanwhile, Villa fail to take advantage of their rivals’ shortcomings, and they will need to improve on a record of just one win in four league games if they are to avoid their top-four place coming into jeopardy in the coming weeks.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jake O’Brien (Everton)
