Premier League 2025-26: Everton’s Thierno Barry puts dent in Aston Villa’s title hopes

Thierno Barry scored a second-half winner as Everton ended title-chasing Aston Villa’s 11-game home winning run with a 1-0 Premier ‍League victory at a wet Villa Park on Sunday, a result that will be ​celebrated in North London.

Villa stays in third place in the table on ‌43 points from 22 games, seven points behind leader Arsenal, which now has a sizeable lead in the title race. Everton climbs to 10th place on 32 points.

The visitor took the lead on 59 minutes when Pau Torres’s poor touch was collected by Dwight McNeil, and when the latter’s shot was parried by Emi Martinez in the home goal, Barry followed up to chip the ball into the net.

Both teams struck the woodwork, Everton after 11 ​seconds in the game. The visitor also had a goal ruled out ⁠for offside by the Video Assistant Referee.

“It was amazing, we worked so hard against a very good team. The lads ground it out today, we got the chance, and we took it,” said ​Everton midfielder James Garner.

“We tried ⁠to block off the passing lanes and stop them playing through the middle, forcing them wide,” he added.

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It was a good weekend for Arsenal, the only one of the top three to secure a point following its 0-0 draw with Nottingham ‌Forest.

None of the top six teams heading into the weekend managed a ‌win, and none of the bottom five were beaten.

Everton’s excellent away form continues, in contrast to a poor run at its new Hill Dickinson Stadium home, as it won a league match at Villa Park for the first time in almost 10 years.

It was denied the opener from the ‍kick-off when a long ball from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was met by Merlin Rohl and fired goalwards, but struck the post.

It was the quickest any team had hit the woodwork in a Premier League fixture since records were first kept in the 2006/07 season.

Everton had the ball in the back of the net from Jake O’Brien’s header, but 18-year-old Harrison Armstrong was adjudged to have impeded an opponent from an offside position.

Villa also struck the woodwork just before halftime as Youri Tielemans’ deep ⁠cross was met by Evann Guessand, whose looping header came back off the crossbar.

Published on Jan 19, 2026