Aston Villa became the latest title challenger to trip up on a weekend of surprising results in the Premier League, losing 1-0 at home to Everton on Sunday after a defensive blunder.
After Villa center back Pau Torres gave the ball away on the edge of his area and goalkeeper Emi Martinez fumbled a soft shot, Everton striker Thierno Barry was on hand to supply a deft finish for the only goal in the 59th minute.
Villa could have climbed above Manchester City to second place and trimmed the gap to leader Arsenal to four points with a win.
Instead, it will go down as another missed opportunity. Like it was for Arsenal in its 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, hours after City lost 2-0 at Manchester United in the derby. Fourth-placed Liverpool also failed to win, held 1-1 at home to next-to-last Burnley.
It was a first home loss since Aug. 31 for Villa, which has launched an unlikely title challenge largely on the back of its brilliant form at Villa Park. Since that defeat to Crystal Palace, Villa had won 11 straight games at home in all competitions — the team’s best streak at Villa Park since the 1989-90 season.
Villa stayed behind second-placed City on goal difference and seven points adrift of Arsenal, and manager Unai Emery said he believed his team was punching above its weight in the league.
“We are still not a contender to be in the top five,” Emery said. “We are (in it) now, but we are still not a contender. There are other teams with more potential than us.”
Everton jumped to 10th place with the win.
Resurgent Wolves
Wolverhampton might be leaving its resurgence too late.
The last-placed team held Newcastle to the league’s 17th 0-0 draw this season — already one more than the last campaign — to extend its unbeaten run to five games in all competitions.
Having collected just two points from its first 18 league games in a historically poor start to a Premier League season, Wolves have earned six points from their last four. However, they are still 14 points from safety and appear destined to return to the second-tier Championship after eight years in the top flight.
The immediate aim for Wolves is to gain four more points to ensure avoiding the lowest ever total in a single Premier League season — 11, by Derby County in the 2007-08 campaign.
The draw brought an end to a streak of three straight league wins for Newcastle, which jumped to eighth place — two points off fifth-placed Man United.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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