Aston Villa beat Everton courtesy of Emiliano Buendia's first-half winner

Duncan Ferguson’s second reign as Everton’s caretaker manager started poorly as the Toffees succumbed to a 1-0 Premier League loss to Aston Villa.

Emiliano Buendia scored a headed goal at the stroke of half time to give Villa a lead they would not relenquish. And few can argue it was anything less than they deserved.

Villa had looked good in patches during the first half, and missed a few half-chances. Ollie Watkins was clean through but his header was saved by Jordan Pickford. Eventually the flag was raised for offside but Everton looked vulnerable.

New signing Philippe Coutinho also saw a headed effort punched away by Pickford. Indeed, it was the English ‘keeper who kept them in the game in the first half.

But it was clear that if any side were going to score, it was going to be Aston Villa. And so it proved when they won a corner towards the end of the first half.

Lucas Digne, the left-back who recently joined Villa from Everton, delivered a pinpoint cross from the corner. The ball was met by Buendia, whose looping header proved too much for Pickford to deal with.

? @AVFCOfficial earn three hard-fought points#EVEAVL pic.twitter.com/zO934V985e

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 22, 2022

The Argentine’s celebrations, however, ended with Everton fans throwing bottles at the Villa players. One struck Matty Cash and the other struck Digne.

The ugly scenes marred what was a frenetic end to the first half. However, no one could dispute the fact that Villa deserved the win.

They would eventually hold on to take all three points, meaning Everton’s recent woes carry on unabated despite the sacking of Rafael Benitez.

Villa had to dig deep towards the end – Everton did get back into the game in the second hand. However, manager Steven Gerrard can be proud of his side for gritting it out.

Aston Villa vs Everton: what the managers said

Duncan Ferguson: “First half we were a wee bit off it, maybe a wee bit of stage-fright. But I thought the second half, the boys gave everything. We just needed that bit of quality in the final third. The effort was there, I couldn’t fault them in any shape or form. I tried my best, we made a few changes. I don’t think the fans will be complaining about the team’s effort today, the second half particularly we gave it a right good go. I’ll carry on until the new manager comes in.”

Steven Gerrard: “It’s a big win for us. Really important, especially for the players. It was a different style of win, a case of us having to roll our sleeves up, stand up and be counted, really put our bodies on the line. It’s difficult to rehearse what came our way in the second half. It was direct, it was coming regular, and we had to fight and compete. Every single person stood up to it. There’s different ways to win, but one thing’s certain, if you don’t compete, especially away at Goodison, you’ll get found out. We expected Duncan to throw more petrol on the fire, but we played big today. That was about grit and steel.”