Everton delivered one of their best performances in months to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and advance to the fourth round of the EFL Cup.
In complete contrast to the dominance we saw from Villa when they beat Everton 4-0 at this venue last month, the Toffees were by far the better side this time, with goals by James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in either half earning their side the win.
Everton began the match by fielding newcomer Jack Harrison on the right flank with Arnaut Danjuma on the left, which allowed the forwards to be positioned slightly centrally in the early stages.
And it was the Toffees that started the brighter of the sides, relentlessly pressing the Villa backline and they got their reward when Amadou Onana put Garner in on goal, and the Birkenhead-born midfielder made no mistake in slotting it past Robin Olsen for the opening goal.
The first time these grand old clubs ever met in competition was way back in 1880, although this was the first time in over four decades that they have been drawn against each other in this tournament.
Villa came into the match brimming with confidence, following a 1-0 win over Chelsea at the weekend and on a 10-match winning streak at Villa Park, dating back to February.
Buoyed by their first league win of the season over Brentford on Saturday, Everton were looking to build some momentum ahead of two huge games before the next international break.
Unai Emery's side have received huge praise over the last few months, but their first-half performance was far from what the Villa faithful have become accustomed to of late.
Sean Dyche clearly came into the match with a gameplan, and his players delivered on it as they closed down everything, forcing the hosts to play the ball backward for most of the half.
With Emery having to rotate his squad with a busy schedule, including Europa Conference League commitments, the Claret and Blues failed to record a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes despite bossing the possession.
In fact, Everton could, and probably should, have been at least two goals up before the break, with both Danjuma and Calvert-Lewin squandering excellent chances late in the half.
Unsurprisingly, the Villa boss made a triple change at the break in search of the equaliser, bringing on Lucas Digne, Boubacar Kamara and Ollie Watkins, who scored his first goal of the season last weekend.
However, a calamitous error by Youri Tielemans sold Ezri Konsa short with a backpass, and Calvert-Lewin broke away one-on-one with the keeper and gave the Toffees a two-goal lead five minutes into the second half.
The Lions almost got one back right away as Moussa Diaby got in behind the defence, but Jordan Pickford came up with a big save, making up for the penalty he conceded in the last meeting.
The Villans upped the tempo in the final 10 minutes, and Kamara fired a hopeful shot that caught a wicked deflection off Michael Keane, wrong-footing Pickford to bring the score to 2-1 and set up a nervy ending for the travelling fans.
In the end, though, Villa were unable to find the crucial equaliser and Emery will have to face several questions about his squad's depth over the upcoming week, with the next three games scheduled in the space of eight days.
Dyche, meanwhile, will now be licking his lips at this weekend's home fixture against newly-promoted Luton Town on Saturday afternoon. body check tags ::
