What was supposed to be Aston Villa’s big chance turned out to be Arsenal’s lucky day. Everton snatched an unlikely but hard-fought and deserved victory to end Villa’s amazing run of 11 consecutive home wins in all competitions.

And rather than Villa closing the gap on Arsenal to four points, they were left still seven adrift of the leaders and stuck in third place behind Manchester City. In retrospect, Arsenal’s draw at Nottingham Forest was not so much two points dropped but another point gained on their challengers at the top.

This three-horse title race has taken yet another turn and after City lost the Manchester derby, this felt like one hell of a chance wasted by Unai Emery’s men. And even more concerning for Villa was another injury as they lost John McGinn after only 18 minutes, and they are also beginning to look tired and fatigued because of a lack of options in the squad.

Boubacar Kamara is already out, they sold Donyell Malen this week and he scored on his Roma debut when they really could have used his extra energy from the bench when legs were tiring. Morgan Rogers, on his 100th appearance for Villa, gave absolutely everything but even he could not find a way through this time.

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Youri Tielemans covered the ground of two players in midfield and did some lovely stuff but je could not unlock an Everton defence which stood firm and defiant until the end. By the final whistle, even the home fans had emptied out because they had given up some hope on a frustrating day at Villa Park.

They have enjoyed some brilliant wins and barnstorming performances but this day belonged to Everton and how Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will owe his former Everton manager and mentor David Moyes. Moyes went over to the travelling fans at the final whistle to salute their brilliant support and how they loved Thierno Barry’s brilliant second half winner down at their end.

It was a lovely piece of improvised skill and was hardly a flash in the pan either as the visitors also hit the post and had an effort ruled out for a VAR offside. It is obvious that Villa boss Emery - who, frankly, has been defying the stats and xG predictions all season - might now need some help in the transfer market as some of his hard earned luck ran out this time.

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They did not have options from the bench either as teenager George Hemmings, 18, came on for the bench for only his second senior appearance. They need help desperately. Everton were terrific throughout but actually could have gone ahead after just 10 seconds when Merlin Rohl’s shot hit the post.

Then McGinn went off and how Villa missed him. Tielemans’ brilliant slide rule pass put in McGinn’s replacement Evann Guessand but he put his tame effort straight at keeper Jordan Pickford. Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko saw his shot brilliantly tipped over by Emiliano Martinez.

Then a real moment of controversy. Everton defender Jake O’Brien headed the ball into the net only for his effort to be ruled out by VAR because Harrison Armstrong was offside and deemed to be impeding Emiliano Buendia in the box. There did not look much in it.

Guessand headed against the bar before half time and, despite pressure and possession, Villa did not create too many clear cut chances in the second half. Pickford made one super save from Rogers but there was not much else.

Then Everton really put the cat among the pigeons after 59 minutes. Villa defender Pau Torres failed to control the ball on the edge of the box, Martinez saved Dwight McNeil’s shot but only pushed it into the danger area.

Barry, who managed just one goal in his first 18 Premier League appearances, somehow managed to chip the ball over Martinez and just inside the far post for his third in four games which gave Everton the most unlikely of wins.

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