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01/18 13:22 CST Villa loses to Everton to complete set of surprising results
for Premier League title challengers
Villa loses to Everton to complete set of surprising results for Premier League
title challengers
By STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer
Aston Villa became the latest title challenger to trip up on a weekend of
surprising results in the Premier League, losing 1-0 at home to Everton on
Sunday after a defensive blunder.
After Villa center back Pau Torres gave the ball away on the edge of his area
and goalkeeper Emi Martinez fumbled a soft shot, Everton striker Thierno Barry
was on hand to supply a deft finish for the only goal in the 59th minute.
Villa could have climbed above Manchester City to second place and trimmed the
gap to leader Arsenal to four points with a win.
Instead, it will go down as another missed opportunity. Like it was for Arsenal
in its 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, hours after City lost 2-0 at
Manchester United in the derby. Fourth-placed Liverpool also failed to win,
held 1-1 at home to next-to-last Burnley.
It was a first home loss since Aug. 31 for Villa, which has launched an
unlikely title challenge largely on the back of its brilliant form at Villa
Park. Since that defeat to Crystal Palace, Villa had won 11 straight games at
home in all competitions --- the team's best streak at Villa Park since the
1989-90 season.
Villa stayed behind second-placed City on goal difference and seven points
adrift of Arsenal, and manager Unai Emery said he believed his team was
punching above its weight in the league.
"We are still not a contender to be in the top five," Emery said. "We are (in
it) now, but we are still not a contender. There are other teams with more
potential than us."
Everton jumped to 10th place with the win.
Resurgent Wolves Wolverhampton might be leaving its resurgence too late. The last-placed team held Newcastle to the league's 17th 0-0 draw this season --- already one more than the last campaign --- to extend its unbeaten run to five games in all competitions. Having collected just two points from its first 18 league games in a historically poor start to a Premier League season, Wolves have earned six points from their last four. However, they are still 14 points from safety and appear destined to return to the second-tier Championship after eight years in the top flight. The immediate aim for Wolves is to gain four more points to ensure avoiding the lowest ever total in a single Premier League season --- 11, by Derby County in the 2007-08 campaign. The draw brought an end to a streak of three straight league wins for Newcastle, which jumped to eighth place --- two points off fifth-placed Man United. ___ Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80 ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer |
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