CLARET & BLEW IT

Barry stings Villa who miss big chance to narrow gap on leaders Arsenal

- BY JOHN CROSS

WHAT was supposed to be Aston Villa's big chance turned out to be Arsenal's lucky day.

Everton snatched an unlikely but hard-fought and deserved victory to end Villa's amazing run of 11 consecutive home wins in all competitions.

And rather than the Villans closing the gap on Arsenal to four points, they were left still seven adrift of the leaders and stuck in third place behind Manchester City.

In retrospect, the Gunners' draw at Nottingham Forest was not so much two points dropped but another point gained on their challengers at the top.

This three-horse title race has taken yet another turn and, after City lost the Manchester derby, it felt like one hell of a chance wasted by Unai Emery's men.

And even more concerning for Villa was another injury as they lost John McGinn after only 18 minutes. They are also beginning to look fatigued because of a lack of options in the squad.

Everton defence which stood firm and defiant.