Aston Villa bounced back from last week’s first match of the season defeat to beat Everton 2-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Having suffered a defeat in their opening games, Villa and Everton came into Saturday’s game fighting hard for victory. 

But, Frank Lampard’s Everton suffered a second loss.

The home side looked strong from the blast of the whistle, pushing hard and dominating ball possession.

Courtesy of an assist from Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings gave Villa the lead with a clinical finish 31 minutes into the game, leaving Everton behind by a lone goal into the break.

Villa returned into the second half, pushing harder to double their lead, while Everton struggled for an equaliser.

Emiliano Buendia doubled Villa’s lead in the 85th minute, scoring from a counterattack move by Watkins. But Digne’s own goal reduced Villa’s lead minutes later.

Saturday’s game was the first encounter between the coaches, Lampard and Gerrald, two ex-England internationals who have been rivals as players for their then respective clubs, Chelsea and Liverpool.

After the game, Lampard said, “I thought we should have got a draw. We had two or three good chances late on. We made mistakes, and in a couple of transitions, they scored.”

A satisfied Gerrard noted, “We had large pockets of control. We could have scored a couple more goals. “I thought we deserved our win.”