Everton`s quest for European football next year took a huge knock last night as they failed to see off rivals Aston Villa despite taking the lead twice in a typically thrilling encounter.
Everton were once again without Arteta in the midfield and Yakubu started with Saha on the bench Billy also started.
Villa stamped their authority on the game early on with some full blooded challenges which saw Osman down clutching his knee after just thirty seconds.
Aston Villa started very much the brighter but the game soon became end to end with both sides making chances with Tim Howard being the much busier keeper with some world class saves from shots by Milner and Downing to keep Everton in the game early on.
Leon Osman had the best of Everton`s chances in the early exchanges but his shot was saved by Friedel.
Slightly against the run of play Everton snatched a lead. After a superb ball into the area by Baines it was flicked home by Tim Cahill who left the Villa goalkeeper with no chance.
Villa reapplied the pressure in response and it took some good defending from Everton to keep them at bay.
Carew came very close for Villa but blazed his shot high and wide from inside the area.
With just five minutes of the first half remaining Tim Howard produced the save of the half as he saved superbly from the head of Cuellar.
This fine save ensured the blues went into half time in the lead; despite a good first half you got the impression that Everton needed a much larger lead in order to be comfortable as Villa have goal threats all over the field.
The game kicked off but within four minutes Everton`s injury worries looked to have deepened with cult hero Jonny Heitinga limping off and was replaced by youngster Jack Rodwell.
The second half continued very much in the same way as the first had ended with both teams giving it everything in what truly was a fantastic end to end game that would excite even the neutral.
Shortly after the hour mark the largely absent Yakubu was replaced by Saha.
Aston Villa then had a decent few minutes of pressure and it paid off when Agbonlahor scored a header from deep inside the Everton penalty area after the cross came in from Milner.
Tim Howard was booked in the aftermath of the goal for throwing the ball away in frustration, an indication of how important European football is to the players perhaps?
To Everton`s credit they responded well to the blow and were instantly on the attack and it took less than two minutes for Everton to retake the lead.
Billy provided the cross this time for Tim Cahill to double his total for the game with a crisp header on the run which found the inch of space between the goalkeeper and defender on the post to mark a superb performance in which he showed just exactly what he is capable of on his day.
Everton really had their backs to the wall in the last ten minutes so Moyes threw on out of favour Yobo for Billy in an attempt to shore up the defences.
To the dismay of Evertonians everywhere there was five minutes of injury time shown by the forth official.
Dramatically Villa levelled the score just moments into injury time courtesy of a blunder at the back by a combination of Jagielka and Howard which resulted in Jags being credited with the own goal.
Under pressure from Carew Jags got what he could on the ball after a cross from Young but he could only steer it towards Howard`s goal, although the Yank goalkeeper got a glove on it he merely helped it into his net via the post.
The last chance of the game fell to the one and only Phil Neville when the ball fell to him inside the area unmarked. He did everything right, the control was good, he avoided the defenders slide tackle and struck it well …………. but true to form his shot blazed oh so narrowly wide of Friedel`s far post.
The game finished 2-2, in truth it is a result that does neither team much good it effectively ends Villa`s push for the Champions League and only the stubbornly optimistic like myself would rate Everton`s chances in their hunt for 7th.
Player Ratings
Howard 8
Kept us in the game in the first half and made some world class saves would have been my man of the match had he done better for their second goal.
Baines 7
Superb assist for the first goal and dealt with the threat down the wings from Villa well. Looked much more composed than rival Warnock.
Distin 6
Struggled against the pace of Villa, saying that so have the best in this league so no disgrace there.
Jagielka 6
Same story as Distin very unlucky for the own goal
Neville 6
His all round play was typically below par. Should have done better with his chance, if it was on target it was in.
Heitinga 7
Typically cool and composed in the midfield gutted to see him go off injured.
Osman 6
Had some good chances but crucially didnt take any of them. Was kicked about the place a lot and credit to him for playing through the pain barrier.
Billy 7
Not bad at all tended to slow down our attacks to often though.
Pienaar 6
Largely absent and wasteful in possession
Cahill 9
Man of the Match – two great goals and was everywhere on the pitch head and shoulders above the rest.
Yakubu 6
Nothing more than a spectator at times and never threatened on goal.
Rodwell 7
Solid in the midfield seemed to take up a weird position behind the striker when he came on.
Yobo 3
Was only on for handful of minutes and in that time they managed to outnumber our centrebacks for their goal where was he when that ball came in not marking a shirt thats for sure.
Similar threat to that of Yakubu and didnt even offer the closing down you would expect from his fresh legs.