Aston Villa won their first Premier League game since February 2016 after Wesley and Anwar El Ghazi struck to sink Everton.
Striker Welsey - a £22million summer buy - grabbed his first Villa goal and El Ghazi's late strike earned a 2-0 win and ended a 1,294-day wait for a top-flight victory.
Boss Dean Smith had questioned criticism of Wesley, the club's record signing from Club Brugge, after just two games and he became the first player this season to breach Everton's defence.
Alex Iwobi was denied a debut Everton goal when he hit the post late on and Theo Walcott blazed a golden chance over with a minute left.
El Ghazi then added a second in injury time as the Toffees missed the chance to move top of the early Premier League table.
Highlights
Opta stats
- Aston Villa ended a run of 15 Premier League games without a win (W0 D1 L14), with this their first top-flight win since winning 2-0 against Norwich City in February 2016.
- Everton suffered only their third Premier League defeat in their last 14 matches in the competition (W7 D4 L3).
- Aston Villa manager Dean Smith enjoyed his first win against Premier League opposition – as a manager, Smith had lost all eight of his previous games against top-flight opponents across spells at Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa.
- Everton have lost back to back Premier League games against newly-promoted opponents (also 0-2 vs Fulham in April) for the first time since August 2011.
- Excluding own-goals, none of Aston Villa’s first 1,079 goals in the Premier League were scored by Brazilians – each of their last two have been scored by Brazilian players (Douglas Luiz and Wesley).
- Jota has been involved in 21 goals in 32 league appearances under manager Dean Smith across his spells at Brentford and Aston Villa (12 goals, 9 assists).
Manager reaction
Aston Villa
"It takes you back to Wembley a bit..."
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 23, 2019
Dean Smith was proud to see his Aston Villa team and fans grab their first Premier League win since promotion.
Relive Villa's win over Everton: https://t.co/uiCKDXoS6l pic.twitter.com/VrOCZusdrg
Everton
"They played with nine players around their box. We didn't deserve the result"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 23, 2019
Marco Silva feels his Everton side were unlucky to lose at Aston Villa on Friday Night Football
Report: https://t.co/P8XnU3OOzn pic.twitter.com/kE0WpvpOKb
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