What Amadou Onana refused to do after Aston Villa win as Emi Martinez breaks another record
Aston Villa moved just three points behind the top four after beating Everton 1-0 on David Moyes' return to Goodison Park on Wednesday night.
Unai Emery's side started the stronger of the two sides and should have forced through an advantage after asserting their dominance early on. Ollie Watkins, Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey all passed up on opportunities to score before the break as Everton lacked any real threat in the final third themselves.
Watkins scored the only goal of the game in the 51st minute as he finished past Jordan Pickford having been picked out by Morgan Rogers with a perfect through ball. It was Villa's first win on the road in the league since beating Fulham 3-1 at Craven Cottage nearly three months ago.
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Here are the talking points from Villa's win on the road...
Textbook away display
Despite it being Moyes' first game in charge of Everton - for a second period - this was still a big chance for Villa to not only return to winning ways on the road, but also record their first away league clean sheet of the campaign.
In six of their last seven away league fixtures, since a 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town, Villa have shipped two or more goals, but on Wednesday night they faced an opponent who had failed to score in eight of the 10 previous matches.
In fact, the Toffees have scored a league-low seven goals from open play this season and failed to register a shot on target for the second time this season in their previous league game at Bournemouth, following a goalless draw at Arsenal.
But no matter the opposition, Villa can use this success as a springboard heading into their upcoming matches and can approach them with more confidence having found what they had lacked all campaign up until now: a solid defensive performance away from home.
Villa have conceded a league-high 11 goals after the 75th minute in the current campaign, so how they managed the game and limited Everton to only one opportunity of note in the final stages is also a major plus.
"Very happy," Emery told BBC Match of the Day after full-time. "A tough match. We played 90 minutes and competed very well. We had some clear chances in the first half and we tried to push and take even more control in the second but we couldn't, but we scored.
"This victory is very important. We have started the year winning at home, in the Premier League and in the FA Cup. Away, we were in a bad spell and had to break it."
Clean sheet springboard
After keeping his third clean sheet of the season, Martinez actually became the first Villa goalkeeper to keep four clean sheets at the same away ground in the competition. Villa's record of not conceding at Goodison in four successive seasons is also a new record in their history.
Now, Villa can look ahead to a period of fixtures where they will be targeting more victories and possibly clean sheets, because that's the first target for Emery to win games. Villa head to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, the scene of arguably the most important win of last season.
Arsenal beat North London rivals Tottenham on Wednesday night, but have struggled for form in the last month and are without several players through injury, including Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri, Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White and possibly Riccardo Calafiori too.
Villa's next two home league matches are against West Ham - who they beat in the FA Cup last week - and Ipswich. An away clash with struggling Wolves comes the weekend after hosting the Hammers, but not before Villa's final Champions League league phase clash against Celtic.
While Villa have been consistently in and around the top eight all season, the likes of Chelsea and Man City continue to underperform against their own expectations. Chelsea were title contenders not so long ago, but are now only two points ahead of Villa in the table, while City have the same points tally as Emery's men.
Nottingham Forest are enjoying a remarkable campaign, while Newcastle United - after a challenging start - have found form. There will be plenty of twists and turns to come this season, but if Villa are in and around those Champions League positions after the next month, then there's no reason why they can't challenge for Europe's elite club competition again.
Kamara immense at Goodison
Boubacar Kamara was the man of the match for Villa at Goodison. He was everywhere, covering every blade of grass, and breaking up play across the park all night.
He made three clearances, made three interceptions, recorded nine recoveries, won seven of his nine ground duels and all three of his aerial duels. Kamara was exactly the player Villa needed to get over the line last night. Few teams have a midfielder of his quality performing such a crucial role.
He slotted into a back three when Villa had possession, while Matty Cash and Lucas Digne hugged the flanks. Tielemans then dropped into a double pivot alongside Amadou Onana, who impressed on his return to Goodison.
The Belgian picked up a booking early on, but showed before that he was bang up for the game. Onana is showing signs of adapting to what Emery wants after putting in a strong display against West Ham in the FA Cup having replaced the injured Ross Barkley.
It's customary for Onana to celebrate a win by giving three fit pumps to the Holte End or the travelling fans at an away game. As he made his way over to the Villa supporters at Goodison, he started to wag his finger while being egged on to celebrate the victory.
This was Onana's first return to Everton since he joined Villa for £50m in the summer, so out of respect for his former club he declined the Villa fans' wishes.
Rogers: Now it's time to kick on
Speaking after full-time, Rogers explained how Villa must use their narrow win over Everton to find more consistency of positive results away from home after heading to Merseyside with five defeats on the spin in the league on the road.
"It's a big win," he said. "We knew beforehand we had to win and get through this drought away from home. It's such a tough place to come, and we were scraping in the second half but those wins are sweeter than the ones where you win comfortably.
"My job is to provide and Ollie [Watkins] movement is so good. He is so good at holding the ball up in the channels and taking the pressure off.
"We defended the box really well. We had to be strong and resolute and we were outstanding defensively. We've got three wins in the New Year and we will keep pushing on."
