Aston Villa’s title bid suffered a 1-0 defeat to Everton at Villa Park, with Thierno Barry scoring the winner in the 59th minute after a turnover outside Villa’s area. Dwight McNeil’s shot was pushed out by Emiliano Martinez to Barry, who chipped the ball home from close range. Villa captain John McGinn limped off with a first-half injury, and Everton had earlier near-misses as Merlin Rohl struck the post inside 11 seconds and a Guessand header hit the bar before half-time.
Arsenal remained seven points clear of Villa, who sat third, after Arsenal’s goalless draw at Nottingham Forest. Manchester City were also seven points behind following their 2-0 defeat at Manchester United, tightening the dynamic at the top of the table.
At Molineux, Newcastle United were held to a 0-0 draw by Wolves, failing to breach the home defense and slipping to eighth place. The result followed a 2-0 League Cup semi-final first-leg loss to Manchester City and left Newcastle needing a quick improvement in attack.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said his side needed to be more dangerous offensively, expressing disappointment that they could not create more and noting it took until the 85th minute to muster a shot on target as they seek to rebound against upcoming fixtures against top-four rivals.
Wolves are unbeaten in four league games but remain 14 points from safety, while the weekend results kept the title race tight and continued the challenge for teams chasing a top-four finish.
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