Aston Villa Held to Goalless Draw by Everton; Manchester City's Dramatic Win Over Newcastle

Aston Villa, who controlled possession in an intriguing match but were unable to break through a resilient home team, lost the opportunity to move up to second place in the English Premier League as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Villa is now two behind league leaders Liverpool with 43 points from 21 games, level with second-place Manchester City. Each of those teams has experienced one fewer game. Everton are now a point clear of the relegation zone with 17 from their 21 games.

The visitors had multiple opportunities to take the lead, but Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin had the finest chance of the match when he raced clear one-on-one with Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, only to have his effort saved.

The Video Assistant Referee properly chalked off goals for offside on both sides, and Everton will be relieved to get the point, while Villa manager Unai Emery might see it as a wasted opportunity and two dropped.

Alex Moreno's incredible shot from outside the box went into the bottom corner to give Villa the lead, but the VAR disallowed it because the build-up was offside.

The decision-making process took more than three minutes, during which the opposing fan bases yelled their disapproval of the VAR system in tandem.

Before the home team could have taken the lead, Leon Bailey forced an incredible low save from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with a strike from eight yards that was arrowing into the bottom corner.

While Calvert-Lewin was racing free, Argentine World Cup winner Martinez made an incredible stop. A few moments later, Martinez made another save, diving low to his left, from James Garner.

In his team's 1-0 loss to their opponents in west London on Saturday, Fulham coach Marco Silva criticized the choice to leave Chelsea's Malo Gusto on the field.

Gusto fouled former Chelsea winger Willian in the 38th minute, but the France defender went through after recovering the ball and planted his boot on the Brazilian's ankle, according to referee Anthony Taylor, who gave Gusto a yellow card.

"Out of ten similar incidents in the league, nine have resulted in a red card," Silva said reporters.

The Portuguese coach expressed his belief that the VAR crew made a glaring error by failing to suggest that Taylor reevaluate his choice.

Pep commends the child

Newcastle: Knowing Kevin De Bruyne's magic, Pep Guardiola may not have been shocked when the Belgian led Manchester City to a 3-2 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday, moving his team up to two points behind leaders Liverpool in the English Premier League.

But following an exciting victory, the Spaniard wasn't only gushing over the Belgian's comeback; he also had kind things to say about Oscar Bobb, the young Norwegian who scored with help from De Bruyne to seal the points in stoppage time.

After conceding two goals to an enraged home team after taking the lead through Bernardo Silva, City pulled off an incredible comeback led by Bobb's first league goal.

After suffering an injury on the first day of the season, De Bruyne made his league debut in the 69th minute and equalized five minutes later.

After being substituted in the 82nd minute, Bobb used his amazing footwork skills to take advantage of De Bruyne's ball.

When asked to sum up de Bruyne's contribution, Guardiola joked, "I am a little bit upset with him because he didn't score from the free-kick!"

"At the end, Kevin and Oscar add additional tempo when opponents are worn out. Oscar's was an excellent control goal. We were quite impressed throughout the preseason, and I knew he was unique based on information for the second team," he remarked.

Bobb, who came from Valerenga to join City's youth ranks in 2019, has been given the opportunity to play this season.

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