For an hour Villa were doing so much right and yet the most important thing wrong. Time and time again they seemed to get cold feet in the final third, suffer a brain freeze, whichever you prefer. They had all the movement, the energy, the verve, the ideas and yet their decision-making continued to give this patched up Everton side belief that there unbeaten start would roll on for another week. And yet in the space of two minutes Everton’s hope was extinguished, Villa were 2-0 up, out of sight and fingers were being pointed at Lucas Digne. Leon Bailey's sensational 19 minute performance for Aston Villa on Saturday crushed Everton The first saw the full-back caught too high and in raced Matty Cash to rifle in for 1-0. Less than two minutes later the France international was looking to the heavens having headed into his own net from Leon Bailey’s corner. He looked like he wanted Villa Park to swallow him up. Bailey would add a third, his first in a Villa shirt since joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £25m in the summer, before dedicating it to Steffi Gregg, a Jamaican influencer who was the daughter of former race car driver Gary Gregg. He lasted just 20 minutes, injury striking him down, but his presence dramatically changed this game. From an Everton perspective this was all about Digne and the uncharacteristic defensive collapse that is so rare to find in a Benitez-led side. MATCH FACTS AND RATINGS ASTON VILLA (3-1-4-2): Martinez 6.5 (GK); Konsa 7.5, Mings 7, Tuanzebe 6; Luiz 7; Cash 8 (Traore 86), McGinn 5 (Nakamba 39, 6), Ramsey 6, Targett 6.5 (Bailey 61, 7.5 (Young 81)); Ings 7.5, Watkins 7 SUBS NOT USED: Steer, Hause, Buendia, El Ghazi, Archer GOALS: Cash (66), Digne OG (68), Bailey (75) BOOKED: Bailey MANAGER: Dean Smith 8 EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Begovic 7.5 (GK); Godfrey 5 (Kenny 80), Mina 6, Keane 6, Digne 4; Doucoure 7, Allan 6 (Gordon 72); Townsend 6.5, Gray 6, Iwobi 5.5 (Davies 81); Rondon 6 (Gomes 63, 6) SUBS NOT USED: Lonergan, Holgate, Branthwaite, Simms GOALS: N/A BOOKED: Godfrey MANAGER: Rafa Benitez 6 REFEREE: Craig Pawson 7 ATT: 41,888 Digne has Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain on his CV but this was two costly mistakes, the first one to let Cash through in particular. Before a ball was kicked Rafa Benitez was scribbling away in his trusted notebook. It’s rarely away from his suit jacket pocket or his hand. What he was writing as both sets of players took the knee is anyone’s guess. By the end he could have written an entire thesis on mistakes made in the second half. He’d have been forgiven for arriving anxious given he was without Jordan Pickford and Richarlison, both feeling the effects of tackles from Burnley on Monday, as well as Seamus Coleman, injured in training. Add in that Everton are still without Dominic Calvert-Lewin and those filtering through the Holte End turnstiles sensed an opportunity. So short are Everton right now that they named just eight of their allocated nine substitutes. The curious case of James Rodriguez, who has been fit to train but was not in the squad, goes on. Injuries for one equals opportunity for another and Asmir Begovic, starting a Premier League game for the first time since April 6, 2019, was thrust into the line-up. Would he still have it at 34? The answer, Villa would later learn, is most certainly. For Villa it was a more familiar face between the posts in Emi Martinez, who arrived yesterday morning just hours before the game from Croatia having been forced to serve out a quarantine following his Covid-fiasco trip to Argentina. It was Begovic who was the busier of the ‘keepers early on, Villa keen to test him with the crowd needing no second invitation to whip up a frenzy behind his goal. Five minutes had elapsed when Tyrone Mings got across his marker at the near post to connect with Douglas Luiz’s fizzed in corner. Mings caught it flush and his arms were ready to rise in celebration, only for Begovic’s cat-like reflexes to kick-in as he pushed it onto the bar. Villa went on, keen to hunt Ben Godfrey, in for the injured Coleman at right back, and this time a well-worked free-kick was a lick away. A long diagonal from left to right picked out Ezri Konsa at the back post and he smartly nodded back for centre back partner Mings, who in turn cushioned a header for Danny Ings to strike over. Benitez rarely wanted to take his seat so keen was he to coach his players as much as he could through the game. Salomon Rondon, making his first Premier League appearance for Everton and his first in this division since May 2019, was being moved around like a kid with a video game joystick. What Villa found tricky was keeping Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray quiet. They aren’t alone in that but the two wingers are like Duracell bunnies for Benitez and Everton, seemingly possessing boundless energy. Gray, booed on every touch by the home support as an ex-Birmingham player, did brilliantly 17 minutes in when he was given the freedom to race into the area, only for a lunging Rondon to miss it by inches. Game’s as cagey as this one often come down to sliding doors moments and how Gray will go to bed thinking of a miscued finish inside the area a minute or so before Cash’s opener. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility