Aston Villa vs. Everton: Instant recap of tough loss

Christian Benteke made his return to the Aston Villa lineup, but unfortunately it came in a loss. Not having Fabian Delph was a big blow for the team going forward, and despite playing some good football at times, they looked lost at others.

Everton's breakthrough came in the 19th minute when Phil Jagielka muscled past Aly Cissokho to get on the end of a Leighton Baines cross.

Alan Hutton actually came ridiculously close to scoring a goal in the first half. He continued to be a force going forward, splitting two defenders and getting fouled right outside the box on another occasion, but the referee played advantage for less than zero seconds and forgot to go back to the original infraction.

Nathan Baker had to be replaced in the 25th minute after an injury, Ciaran Clark came on and had the tricky task of stopping Romelu Lukaku and the rest of the Everton attack.

Shortly after halftime, Lukaku doubled the advantage. Brad Guzan was somewhat at fault as the ball rolled under him and into the back of the net.

It wasn't a very good day for the Villa attack. This was probably due to the fact that Jack Grealish didn't even make the bench. Charles N'Zogbia wasn't very effective. Andi Weimann came on for the Frenchman, but wasn't able to do anything either.

Villa probably should have had a goal, as Tim Howard was called into action by a Gabby Agbonlahor shot but he was up to the task. The Everton goalie had a fairly easy day in goal

Seamus Coleman made it 3-0 after the defenders were too slow to react to Everton taking a free kick quickly. Leighton Baines was able to cross it in along the ground and Coleman scored from close range.

There was no point in having Christian Benteke finish the match, so with ten minutes left Joe Cole replaced him.

If you're looking for a bright side to this match, well, Villa are still one point ahead of Everton in the table. Next week against QPR should be a good chance for the team to rebound and get a victory at home.

Originally, I had intended on attaching a Man of the Match poll, but the result was bad so I decided against it. If you think someone deserved the title, say so in the comments!