Everton have it all to do in their pursuit of European football after Anwar El Ghazi’s excellent 80th-minute strike ripped a point from the grasp of Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
The home team would likely have been content with the draw given the way the night unfolded.
They lost James Rodriguez to a problem sustained in the pre-match warm-up and fell a goal behind when Ollie Watkins struck on 13 minutes.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin soared above Villa’s rearguard to equalise six minutes later - a 20th goal of the season for the Everton striker, who was assisted by Lucas Digne from a corner.
Jordan Pickford was fabulous for Everton, denying Watkins one-on-one on three separate occasions.
He kept out Bertrand Traore in a similar situation but leaping save from the follow up was even better.
Everton had more of the second half but couldn’t find the goal to turn the game on its head.
And El Ghazi curled out of Pickford’s reach from 20 yards to claim the points for the away team.
Everton remain eighth and have a two-point gap to close to sixth.
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