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Game #5001

Aston Villa

Sunday, 7 December 2008

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Won

5th (-)

Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟩

Premier League

Everton

Goodison Park

Attendance: 31,922

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

Everton

2-3

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Aston Villa

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Assist(s) | James Milner | 1’ | Gabriel Agbonlahor | 90’+4 |

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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MATCH TIMELINE
Sunday, 7 December 2008

⚽ | 1’ Goal, 1-0, Steve Sidwell, Assist by James Milner (31 seconds)
🥅 | 30’ Goal, 1-1, (Everton), Joleon Lescott
🟨 | 31’ Booked, Luke Young
🕒 | HT Everton 1-1 Aston Villa
⚽ | 54’ Goal, 2-1, Ashley Young
🥅 | 90’+3 Goal, 2-2, (Everton), Joleon Lescott
⚽ | 90’+4 Goal, 3-2, Ashley Young, Assist by Gabriel Agbonlahor
🕒 | FT Everton 2-3 Aston Villa

Match Statistics

Possession F | 40%
Possession A | 60%
Shots F | 6
Shots A | 13
Shots on Target F | 5
Shots on Target A | 7
Corners F | 6
Corners A | 10
Fouls F | 18
Fouls A | 18

Goal ⚽, Assist 🔥, Goal Conceded 🥅, Injury 🚑, Booking 🟨, Sending off 🟥, Comment 🗒️, ❗ Villa Chance,❗❗Huge Villa Chance, 💥 Opposition action, 🎥 VAR, 🆘 Referee error, ❌ Missed pen, disallowed goal, player retires from field of play, 🟢 Debut, 🔴 Final appearance, 🕒 Half time, Full time, 🔁 Substitution

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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ON THIS DAY
Sunday, 7 December 2008
  • Villa record one of their greatest away victories - scoring in the first and last seconds of the match - to deny a hostile crowd and opposition with class, dynamism and a cheeky bit of humour. 

  • Villa win at the last in one of the most astonishing games for many a season as the spiteful Joleon Lescott raises his hate level to such a degree that the Villa players - en masse - have only one response. Villa remain in fifth to leave Goodison with the points and their dignity, unlike some.

  • Joleon Lescott, a player who would later spectacularly fail at Villa Park, and a boyhood Villa fan, taunted Villa's players and fans alike as he dragged his Everton side back into the game on two occasions but it was the "World class" Ashley Young that stole the headlines and the points.

  • Luke Young secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 19th appearance (18 Starts) to make it W10 D5 L4, 1 Goal and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

Seasons | 🕒 Games | ✅ Starts (🔁 Subs) | ⚽ Goals | 🔥 Assists | 🇺 Unused | Player Number |

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Everton

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European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1994-95

FIXTURE HISTORY
Everton
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Previous 5 vs. Everton: 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟨

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Goals Scored ⚽, Goals Conceded 🥅

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

FIXTURE DETAILS
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Season | 2008-09 |
Matchday | #26 |
League Game | #16 |
Manager Game | #109 |
Sunday, 7 December 2008

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🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

MATCH SUMMARY
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Manager: Martin O’Neill | 🇬🇧 | County Londonderry, 2006-2010
Referee: Martin Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | West Riding, 2006-2021
Kick off: 4.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 1-1
FT Score: 🟩 3-2
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟩

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Fixture
Manager
MANAGERIAL RECORD
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Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 | 2006-2010

🕒 109 | 🟩 | 43 🟨 | 36 🟥 30 | 1.51

Villa Career Form:

Top 8

Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 | 2006-2010

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Points per Game

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Martin Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | West Riding, 2006-2021
Assistants: Shaun Procter-Green, Mick McDonough

REFEREE PROFILE

Referee: Martin Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | West Riding, 2006-2021
🕒 13 | 🟩 4 | 🟨 4 | 🟥 5 | 🆘 : 0
🕒 13 | 🟩 31% | 🟨 31% | 🟥 38% | 🆘 : 0%
Cards 🟨 10 | 🟥 0 | 0.77 |
Penalty ⚽ 3 | 🥅 1 |
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟨 🟩

VAR PROFILE (from 2021)

CARDS
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🟨 Luke Young

CARDS
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🟨 Joleon Lescott
🟨 Marouane Fellaini

Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Notably poor performance 🆘, Cards 🟨 Booking, Cards 🟥 Sending off, Disallowed ❌ Goal disallowed, ⚽ Penalty for, 🥅 Penalty against, ❌ Penalty Disallowed

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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TEAM NEWS
TEAM STATS

Martin O'Neill reverts to his 'League' team as Martin Laursen, Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, Brad Friedel, Curtis Davies and James Milner replace Brad Guzan, Moustapha Salifou, Marlon Harewood, Nathan Delfouneso, Isaiah Osbourne, Nigel Reo-Coker, Craig Gardner and Zat Knight.

Starting XI Average Age
| 27.42 |

Oldest Player |
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 | 37.58 |

Youngest Player |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 22.17 |

Referee

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

MANAGER

Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 | 2006-2010

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Aston Villa

GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 |
CB Martin Laursen | 🇩🇰 |
CB Curtis Davies | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Carlos Cuéllar | 🇪🇸 |
RB Luke Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Stiliyan Petrov | 🇧🇬 |
M Steve Sidwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Ashley Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | ⚽ |
W James Milner | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 |

MANAGER

David Moyes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

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Everton

GK Tim Howard | 🇺🇸 |
CB Joseph Yobo | 🇳🇬 |
CB Joleon Lescott | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🟨 | 🤡 |
CB Phil Jagielka | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Phil Neville | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Steven Pienaar | 🇿🇦 |
M Leon Osman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Mikel Arteta | 🇪🇸 |
M Tim Cahill | 🇦🇺 |
M Marouane Fellaini | 🇧🇪 | 🟨 |
CF Victor Anichebe | 🇳🇬 | 🔁 |

Line Ups

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

SUBSTITUTES
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No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | RB Phil Neville | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (W Andy van den Meyde | 🇳🇱 |)
🔁 | CF Victor Anichebe | 🇳🇬 | (LB Leighton Baines | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

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Substitutes

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 |
CB Zat Knight | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Nicky Shorey | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Craig Gardner | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Nigel Reo-Coker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Marlon Harewood | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Nathan Delfouneso | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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GK Carlo Nash | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dan Gosling | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Segundo Castillo | 🇪🇨 |
M John Paul Kissock | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Lukas Jutkiewicz | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Squad Bios

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

SQUAD STATS
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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11
Homegrown: 2/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 13/18
Homegrown: 4/18

SQUAD STATS
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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 4/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/18

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

MATCHDAY SQUAD
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MATCHDAY SQUAD
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🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

UNAVAILABLE
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Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE
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Not Recorded

Unavailable
LEAGUE TABLE
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Tables & Programmes
🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
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2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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MATCH QUOTES
“It was an amazing finish and I could not be more delighted. “It is a phenomenal victory for us - and the manner in which we did it speaks volumes for the ability and spirit of the team. “Ashley Young was absolutely world class. He is a magnificent footballer and he put his chances in the net superbly. “We got a great start but Everton clawed their way into the game and then put us under enormous pressure. We were under the cosh for long periods. “They got an equaliser and just when you thought the referee was going to blow the whistle, Young comes up with a world class finish to win the match. I am ecstatic.” Martin O'Neill. "It was an incredible goal from an incredible, world-class footballer. "It was sensational and an extraordinary finale. I work with Ash every day and he produces finishes like that, but he is the sort of fellow that can produce on the big day. He is only eight and a half stone wet through but he has the heart of a lion and he is getting better. He is a world-class player. I know I'm eulogising him here but he is world class and he makes things happen. The expectations now from myself, the players and the supporters is that he can always make something happen and here he did. "He defends a post at corners, gets up the other end to score, and works himself into the ground. And the skill he has, to beat players and still put it into the net, is brilliant." Martin O’Neill on Ashley Young. "We have confidence, strength and a strong mentality. ”We have our aims and we are getting there. Even when Everton equalised earlier in injury time, we didn't give up. We keep going right to the end, and it paid off. "You could tell from the celebrations after the winning goal just how much we wanted it. It was a great game to be involved in and we were delighted with the three points. "When Joleon Lescott scored their second it was heartbreaking for us after the way we had played. But everyone could see the character and the strength we have got to keep going right to the whistle. We made it happen. I had the pace and was able to produce the finish to match it, I knew where I wanted to put the ball, we always talk of making sure we go right to the end, and it paid off. We are intent on doing better than last season and we are on course to do that. "We will keep going the way we have been. It's all about concentration and team spirit. We are doing this without John Carew, he is a massive player for us, but we have the squad to deal with such injuries. We have added to the squad, and we are able to produce results like at Everton. "It is a difficult place to go to, they are a strong side, but we are proving we can handle things. Hopefully that will continue during the Christmas and New Year programme. The character, strength and mentality we have in the squad carries us through." Ashley Young. "I think Ashley's a world-class performer, I really do. "I don't use [those words] too often but he's absolutely class. And he's far from reached his peak. If you look at other top quality players who are 22 or 23 and who are absolutely brilliant ... you look at people like Ronaldo and Messi and ask how they can improve, but they do, they just get better." "Yes. I've just put him in it. This is my opinion. I look at players; I see a lot of games in Europe, I watch a lot of football and you see a lot of players playing the game who are very functional. Some are decent, some are more than decent and some are very good. And then you have players who are absolutely exceptional and Ashley Young is absolutely exceptional. "Could you name me two dozen players in the world who could have scored the second goal that he scored against Everton? [in Sunday's 3–2 win for Villa]. I can't. To have the presence of mind ... in the last minute of a game in which he had worked tirelessly ... to have the energy to do it was remarkable. To have that poise was world-class." Martin O’Neill.
Quotes

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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MATCH REPORTS

Opens in New Window

*BBC Sport*
Sunday, 7 December 2008
*Ashley Young scored an injury-time winner to shatter Everton, who had equalised only seconds earlier.* Steve Sidwell smashed in from 20 yards in the first minute but Joleon Lescott prodded home a deserved equaliser. Marouane Fellaini had a header cleared off the line and hit the bar with another before Phil Jagielka’s woeful backpass allowed Young to slot home. Lescott scored with an acrobatic volley to bring Everton level again but Young snatched the points when he curled in. It was a dramatic end to game that had started in equally thrilling fashion. Villa went into the match on the back of two consecutive goalless draws in the league but it took only 31 seconds to ensure the run would not stretch to three games. James Milner received the ball with his back to goal and laid it off to Sidwell, who smashed a ferocious, rising drive into the top corner from 20 yards. But instead of inspiring Villa to take control of the game, the goal had the opposite effect of stinging Everton into action. The hosts impressively set about the task of getting back into the game - led by Leon Osman and Fellaini. Osman set up Tim Cahill for a first time volley that Brad Friedel beat away at the near post before Fellaini tested the American keeper with a header. And when Everton deservedly equalised it was Osman who nodded Mikel Arteta’s free-kick into the path of Lescott, who prodded the ball in from close range. Now dominating the game, Everton pressed for a second goal and they came close to getting it when Fellaini’s looping header was cleared off the line by Carlos Cuellar. Fellaini went even closer after the break when he thumped a header goalwards only to see Friedel somehow deflect it on to the bar. But then Everton undid all their good work as a horrible lapse of concentration from Jagielka cost them dear. The centre-back played a bind pass back to Tim Howard, straight into the path of Ashley Young, who raced on to the ball and clipped it into the corner of the net. Having surrendered their advantage once in the game, Villa looked determined not to do it again as they defended with greater desire and spirit. There was no longer the same zip about Everton’s play and they were laboured in possession. And while Villa were happy to camp in their own half, they were finding it easy to keep Everton at bay. They might even have caught Everton with a sucker punch when Young broke on the counter, but the winger lost control of the ball when he tried to cut inside Joseph Yobo. Everton piled forward as the clock ticked down, but it seemed they were to be foiled. But when Jagielka headed back into the box, Osman nodded the ball on and Lescott scored with a flying volley that appeared to have salvaged a draw. Yet there was time for it all to change again, and it was Lescott who was turned inside out by Young and the Villa man curled in a shot to steal victory. *Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill:* “It was an amazing finish and I could not be more delighted. “It is a phenomenal victory for us - and the manner in which we did it speaks volumes for the ability and spirit of the team. “Ashley Young was absolutely world class. He is a magnificent footballer and he put his chances in the net superbly. “We got a great start but Everton clawed their way into the game and then put us under enormous pressure. We were under the cosh for long periods. “They got an equaliser and just when you thought the referee was going to blow the whistle, Young comes up with a world class finish to win the match. I am ecstatic.”
Reports

🟩 7 Dec 2008, Villa 3-2 Everton, Goodison

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MATCH VIDEO
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