Everton have confirmed that a supporter has been arrested after Aston Villa pair Matty Cash and Lucas Digne were struck by a bottle during Saturday's Premier League clash.
The incident occurred in first-half stoppage time at Goodison Park as Villa's players celebrated Emi Buendia's headed opener, which proved to be the only goal of the game.
Villa's players celebrated the goal in the corner in front of Everton fans and several drinks bottles were thrown in their direction
One of those objects hit Cash and Digne, the latter of whom spent three and a half years with Everton before joining Villa last week after falling out with former boss Rafael Benitez.
Both players fell to the turf and held their heads, but they were able to continue.
Everton confirmed shortly after the 1-0 loss that they had identified the supporter and the matter is now being dealt with by Merseyside Police.
"Police have arrested a supporter at Goodison Park for throwing a missile onto the pitch during today's Premier League match against Aston Villa," a club statement read.
"Everton security staff and Merseyside Police identified the supporter using CCTV footage.
"Several objects were thrown towards the pitch following Aston Villa’s goal at the end of the first half, with one missile appearing to strike two opposition players.
"Investigations in conjunction with the police are ongoing, and the club will issue bans to any fans identified throwing objects."
'I'm still trying to crack the code' - Dyche working 'tirelessly' to address Everton form
Sean Dyche says he is working "tirelessly" to "crack the code" as he aims to turn Everton's fortunes around.
The Toffees sit just two points above the Premier League relegation zone, having only won two matches this season and gone five without victory.
Everton have also failed to score in their four most recent outings, and will be desperate to put things right against fellow strugglers Wolves on Wednesday.
And Dyche, whose contract expires at the end of this term, says he is working harder than he ever has before during his 13-year managerial career to get his side back on track.
"Sometimes me, my staff and the players haven't delivered as well as we could do," he said.
"But we work tirelessly. This is the most work I've done in all my years in management, at this club, without a shadow of a doubt.
"I'm more than ready for the challenge. It could be easier because, for sure, I've made errors this season, the team has made errors, they are there for all to see.
"It's a fact of life as a manager, you have to get the margins right, and we haven't done so far this season. You've got to win games, and we haven't won enough games.
"We've got ourselves in a position where we feel we should be doing better - myself included - and now it is about taking on the challenge. I'm still trying to crack the code, as others have done before me."
O'Neil: Wolves have 'mountain to climb' for Premier League survival
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said his side’s error-strewn defeat to Bournemouth has “given them a mountain to climb” if they are to remain in the Premier League this season.
O’Neil’s side were the creators of their own downfall against the Cherries last time out, conceding three penalties as they fell to a 4-2 defeat at Molineux.
Wolves’ eighth defeat of the season leaves them in the relegation zone after 13 games this season, though they are just two points behind Wednesday’s opponents Everton.
Their struggles have been at both ends of the pitch, scoring 22 goals and conceding 32 after 13 games in the Premier League this season – the earliest in a top-flight campaign a team has scored more than 20 and conceded more than 30 goals since Watford in 1984-85.
"Incredibly disappointing and self-inflicted. Some crazy errors there, especially early in the game. It is disappointing. The lads are equally disappointed,” O’Neil said.
"We need to turn our attentions quickly to Wednesday, with a big test against Everton.
"Crazy, crazy penalties to give away. We have to write those off because you can't win games if you concede goals like that. Any error as big as those, at this level, is going to be tough to bounce back from.
"We have given ourselves a mountain to climb, which we haven't done in the last four games.”
Everton, meanwhile, were thrashed 4-0 by Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United, marking the fifth time they have lost a Premier League game by a 4+ goal margin under manager Sean Dyche.
But the Toffees had started brightly at Old Trafford, albeit without offering too much in the way of a threat until the Red Devils hit the front with the aid of a deflection and a mistake by Jarrad Branthwaite.
Confident his side can bounce back from a disappointing defeat, Dyche recognises his side must return to their defensive solidity – a trait which helped them to keep four clean sheets out of six games heading into Sunday’s game – while also trying to find more potency in front of goal.
“Well, the strangest thing is we've been down this road before, unfortunately, where the pressure comes on and we have to respond, and then we do respond, and we win a game, and we change it somewhat,” Dyche said.
“It's been a hard narrative to change for a long time both with me and before me. We consistently are working hard to change it. We move forward, we drop back, we move forward, we drop back.
“And then we can't find that killer edge and then the mistakes come in and it's got away from you too quickly. So, [we need to be] eradicating the mistakes and going again and bringing that mentality that we've shown many times before.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Everton – Dwight McNeil
McNeil has both had the most shots (13) and created the most chances (13) for Everton at Goodison Park in the Premier League this season, both an average of 2.2 per 90 minutes.
He’s the first player to average more than two shots and two chances created per 90 mins in a season (min. 500 minutes) since Gylfi Sigurdsson in 2018-19 (3.1 shots, 2.5 chances created).
Wolves – Matheus Cunha
Cunha has scored 15 away Premier League goals for Wolves, only the second player to do so along with Raul Jimenez (18).
The Brazilian has also scored in each of his last four away appearances, with Steven Fletcher the only other Wolves player to do so during the 2011-12 campaign (also four in a row).
MATCH PREDICTION: EVERTON WIN
Despite being favoured by Opta’s data-led simulations, Everton have lost their last three home league games against Wolves. It’s their longest losing home run against them, and as many defeats as they’d suffered in their previous 18 against Wolves at Goodison Park (W9 D6).
And in a huge game between two teams at the bottom, do not expect goals on Merseyside. Two of Everton’s last three home top-flight matches have ended goalless, as many as in their previous 54 combined. The last three games at Goodison Park have seen just two goals scored, with both Everton and their opponents converting just 2.4% of their attempts (2/82).
The Toffees have also won just 29.5% of their Premier League games played on Wednesdays (33/112), their lowest win rate on any day of the week in the competition. However, they won their last such game 2-0 against Liverpool in April.
Wolves, meanwhile, have won their last three Premier League away games against Everton – only at Southampton (a current run of four) have they won more consecutively on the road in the competition.
O’Neil’s side have also scored four goals in three of their last 16 away Premier League games, having only done so once in their first 180 away games in the competition. They are also looking to score two or more goals in four consecutive away top-flight matches for the first time since April 1980.
But they face a difficult test to keep that run going. Everton have kept a clean sheet in 44% of their Premier League games under Dyche at Goodison Park (15/34) – the only permanent Toffees manager with a higher ratio in the competition is Joe Royle (46%, 22/48).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Everton – 45.8%
Draw – 25.7%
Wolves – 28.5%
Sky is the limit for ‘relentless’ Brentford ahead of Villa test, says Frank
Brentford boss Thomas Frank believes the sky is the limit for his players after they dispatched Leicester City last time out to move up to eighth in the Premier League table.
A hat-trick from Kevin Schade and a goal from Yoane Wissa earned the Bees their sixth win of the season last Saturday, all of which have come at home, more than they managed for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign (five).
Brentford also became the first side to score 20+ goals at home in the Premier League this term. After seven home games, it's the earliest in a league season that they have reached 20+ home goals since 1982-83 (also seven), and the earliest in the top-flight since 1936-37 (also seven).
While their away from has left a lot to be desired, with a midweek trip to Aston Villa up next for the Bees, Frank is confident his players can push to finish in the European places.
"As high as possible. We are very happy with the season so far, always thinking of what to improve. Even this game, there are things we could do better, but football is tough. We celebrate today and we go again in training tomorrow,” Frank said.
"It was a very good performance, probably our best performance this year overall. I think we controlled and dominated that game from minute one to the end of the game. They got 1-0 up but we were just relentless.
"This group of players has a top mentality, top character and top culture. That bounce-back mentality is something you need to have not just after a game you lose, but also in games.”
Villa, meanwhile, endured a difficult day at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, losing 3-0 to Chelsea, which dropped them down into the bottom half of the Premier League standings.
The Villans are now winless in their last five straight top-flight games for the first time since August 2022 under Steven Gerrard. This current form is also the joint-longest streak without a victory in the Premier League (five – level with Everton and Leicester).
However, Unai Emery insisted that he was happy with his side’s displays this term, both domestically and in the Champions League, but acknowledged improvements were needed.
"We believe completely in our work. We are enjoying the Champions League, and in the league, we are more or less where we were [last season],” Emery said. "Our challenge is to fight on Wednesday with Brentford and see how our level is with Brentford.
“There are still matches to play and we are going to recover our confidence, trying to build the team. We have to try to be better than we are being now. We can individually do better.
"At the beginning of the season, we can sense some teams were better than us and one of them is Chelsea. We try to keep the balance and not be frustrated.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins
Against Crystal Palace last time out, Watkins became the first Villa player to reach 50 goal involvements in Premier League home games (35 goals, 15 assists).
His 35 goals is the second most by a Villa player at Villa Park, behind only Dwight Yorke (37), and the England international will be hopeful of adding to that total on Wednesday.
Brentford – Kevin Schade
While the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa have received plaudits for their starts to the season, the Bees were able to showcase the depth of their attacking talent against Leicester, none more so than Schade.
He became the fourth German player to score a Premier League hat-trick last time out against the Foxes, with his three goals in that game more than he’d managed in his previous 41 appearances in the competition combined (two).
MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN
Villa are unbeaten in their last four league games against Brentford (W2 D2), having been winless in their previous eight (D4 L4).
However, the Villans have won just two of their last 14 Premier League games played on a Wednesday (D4 L8), though one of these was in their last such home match against Manchester City in December last year.
They have also impressed at Villa Park, losing just one of their last 11 Premier League home games (W4 D6). Each of their last three have finished level, though, with Villa last drawing four consecutive Premier League games on home soil between March and April 2007.
Brentford, meanwhile, have never won an away league game against Villa (D6 L3), with the Bees only facing Stoke City (14) and Halifax Town (11) more often on the road without ever winning in their league history.
While Frank’s side have won more points in Premier League home games than any other side this season (19), no side have won fewer points on the road than the Bees this term (1, level with Southampton).
They have also lost nine of their last 10 top-flight games against sides that finished in the top four the previous season, with the only exception being a 1-1 draw with Manchester United in March.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Aston Villa – 50.8%
Draw – 23.6%
Brentford – 25.6%
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