Source: Daily_Mail
Everton 1 Aston Villa 1: Champions League pretenders in stalemate
Take away a boisterous final five minutes fuelled by two awful refereeing decisions and the nagging emotion at Goodison Park was frustration. [LNB]And not just because these two cancelled each other out. Rather, it was impossible to shake the feeling that both Everton and Villa might once again fall shy of their ambition to seal a Champions League place. [LNB]When their injured players return, notably Mikel Arteta, Everton will surely perform their usual mid-to-late-season surge. [LNB] Little John: Carew equalises for Villa at Goodison Park [LNB]Trouble is, this point leaves them closer to the bottom than the top four. Villa, on the other hand, have frittered away points that they will regret come May.[LNB]Making his point: Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov celebrates scoring the opening goal [LNB] A 1-1 draw that pleased Martin O'Neill publicly will have privately irked him, so dominant were his team in the 25 minutes after John Carew's 46th-minute equaliser. [LNB]Having beaten Liverpool and Chelsea, but lost to Wigan and Blackburn, Villa gave further signs that they have yet to impose an iron will on opponents. [LNB]Everton were there for the taking. Instead, with Emile Heskey, in a rare start, playing the role of lost sheep, they forced home keeper Tim Howard into just a single save all match, a brilliant one-handed parry of a deflected Gabriel Agbonlahor shot which fell for Carew to drive home the rebound. [LNB]That negated Diniyar Bilyaletdinov's calm side-footed finish in first-half injury time and halted the momentum Everton had taken into the interval. [LNB]Match Stats EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard 6; Neill 7, Yobo 6, Distin 6, Baines 6; Heitinga 8, Rodwell 6; Cahill 6, Fellaini 6 (Saha 72min, 6), Bilyaletdinov 7; Yakubu 7 (Jo 90).[LNB]Booked: Cahill. Sent off: Bilyaletdinov.[LNB]ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Friedel 6; Cuellar 6, Collins 7, Dunne 6, Warnock 7; Milner 5 (Carew 46, 6), Petrov 6 (Reo-Coker 90), Sidwell 6, Young 6; Heskey 5, Agbonlahor 6.[LNB]Booked: Warnock, Cuellar, Young, Carew.[LNB]Sent off: Cuellar.[LNB]Man of the match: John Heitinga.[LNB]Referee: Lee Probert.[LNB]Manager David Moyes said: 'My teams always used to start seasons well and not finish them that well. Which is better? Well, neither of them to tell the truth, but if you finish the season better, you tend to be in with a chance of winning things.'[LNB] In their next match both teams will be missing a player after referee Lee Probert issued unnecessary red cards in the final minutes. He failed to spot that Bilyaletdinov slipped as he tried to tackle Stiliyan Petrov and also that Carlos Cuellar touched the ball away from Yakubu before they collided.[LNB] The Yak is back! Everton boss David Moyes excited by Yakubu return Everton 1 Aston Villa 1: Bilyaletdinov the hero and villainAndy Townsend's Boot Room: Rodwell is another classy Moyes boyVilla built on rock solid foundations of Dunne and Collins [LNB] [LNB]
