Everton failed to win for a fifth successive home game against Aston Villa.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side had been dealt a premature setback as James Rodriguez needed to be withdrawn from the line-up after suffering a warm-up injury.

Ollie Watkins gave the visitors an early lead after pouncing on a defensive error from Mason Holgate before rolling the ball into Jordan Pickford’s net.

The Blues regained composure and levelled shortly afterwards with Dominic Calvert-Lewin meeting Lucas Digne’s corner to the far post with a header.

But Villa clinched maximum points just 10 minutes from time courtesy of Anwar El Ghazi hitting a powerful curling effort from the edge of the area.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Blues’ European dream in tatters

 

Contrary to Carlo Ancelotti’s post-match declaration, Everton’s season is over.

They are still mathematically in with a chance of qualifying for Europe, yet the odds are increasingly slim after a fifth winless home outing in all competitions.

Champions League qualification fell by the wayside months ago and not even Europa League, or its poor relation, appear genuinely attainable at this stage.

That a campaign which began with genuine promise rapidly fizzled out in the final weeks should set alarm bells ringing in Goodison’s corridors of power.

Ancelotti’s in-game management takes some culpability, as it did with Aston Villa’s late victory, but bigger issues cannot be laid at the manager’s feet.

The decorated Italian is paying for the sins of his predecessors, with a squad cobbled together by no fewer than four different regimes as well as his own.

If Everton are to make that widely-touted step up from perennial also-rans into contenders, cutting away the deadwood is long overdue this summer.

Ancelotti needs another No.10

 

Talk of Everton signing more no.10s, rightly, became the subject of taboo.

A too-many-cooks approach in summer 2017 led to three of them arriving on Merseyside and distorting the shape of Ronald Koeman’s starting line-up.

The Dutchman paid the ultimate price after trying to shoehorn Gylfi Sigurdsson, Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen into ill-fitting positions.

But amid growing speculation around potential incomings, Ancelotti would be wise not to scorch those currently linking his side with another playmaker.

James Rodriguez pulling up in the warm-up for this game came more as a frustration than surprise given his countless injury occurrences this term.

The Colombian has now missed 13 competitive matches in his debut season with Everton, making the need for an understudy all the more imperative.

Without his trademark creativity, Everton’s build-up play became laboured and openings snatched at by the likes of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Rodriguez remains one of the first names on the team sheet yet a player of similar calibre as backup can help turn more defeat and draws into wins.

Pickford spares embarrassment

 

When Jordan Pickford excels, Everton usually take something from games.

They also get away with it to a large extent. This was not one of those nights.

Without the England international’s heroics, however, his team would have suffered a far greater embarrassment as Villa racked up numerous chances.

Both of the visitors’ goals were ones which Pickford could do little about as Everton’s defence inviting Ollie Watkins and Anwar El Ghazi to score easily.

They might have plundered more had the 27-year-old not managed to pull off myriad stops from close and long range during the first half particularly.

A watching Gareth Southgate would struggle not to be impressed by his first-choice goalkeeper’s display on his latest, now semi-regular visits to Goodison.

When Pickford is in this form, the Three Lions coach will be pitching up in Liverpool 4 more often in what little remains of the current campaign.

Goal run shows DCL’s progress

 

Focus on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal return in the run-up to Villa’s visit to Merseyside shows just how far he has come in a very short space of time.

Scoring just three in his 16 previous top-flight outings would have been considered par for the course with the Everton striker barely a year ago.

Yet a blistering start to this season which saw him hit the target 11 times in as many games has led to Calvert-Lewin being judged more harshly now.

The sign of a good marksman is when their recent downturn in form becomes noticeable; another is how they respond to those often widespread criticisms.

Calvert-Lewin’s header to pull Everton level addressed both issues through a pouncing far-post header to convert an exquisite corner from Lucas Digne.

It may prove a false dawn but the 24-year-old exuded confidence which suggests he will be hitting the goal trail more often in the closing weeks.