Watch Everton Vs Aston Villa highlights as Ollie Watkins’ second-half strike was enough to secure victory for Villa at Goodison Park.
New Toffees boss David Moyes replaced Sean Dyche after the latter’s sacking last week.
But there was no fairytale return for the Scottish coach, who rejoined Everton more than a decade after leaving to take charge at Manchester United.
It was a self-inflicted wound that killed off Everton. A poor pass from Jarrad Branthwaite was latched onto by Villa’s Morgan Rogers, who found Watkins to slot the ball past England keeper Jordan Pickford.
Watkins had the chance to score earlier on, but blasted wide after racing onto Ashley Young’s wayward back-pass.
At the other end, Dominic Calvert-Lewin had the chance to end his goal drought. After being sent through by Vitalii Mykolenko, he couldn’t keep his effort on target, with another attempt cleared off the line.
Jacob Ramsey missed a golden chance for Villa just before halftime, but he too sent it wide of the mark.
Calvert-Lewin looked to have been fouled in the box by Youri Tielemans, but the officials were not interested and no penalty was given.
Watch: Everton Vs Aston Villa Highlights
The result sees Aston Villa move up to seventh, three points outside the Champions League places.
Unai Emery’s men have won three ion a row in all competitions, and last tasted defeat at Newcastle on Boxing Day.
For Everton, they remain perilously close to the bottom three. The Toffees are just one point above the drop zone, and six below Manchester United above them.
Moyes certainly has a job on his hand to keep Everton in the Premier League, something he is well aware of.
Next up, Everton host Tottenham on Sunday in the Premier League. Villa, meanwhile, travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal on Saturday.
