‘I told them’ - Sean Dyche gives immediate reaction to Everton win vs Aston Villa

Everton boss Sean Dyche hailed his side’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup and felt his side were vindicated after some frustrating moments this season.

Goals from James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were enough to see off Unai Emery’s outfit at Villa Park. The hosts offered little threat until the last 10 minutes when Boubacar Kamara’s deflected strike halfed the deficit.

The Toffees earned back-to-back away victories for the first time since Dyche took charge as manager last January, as they followed up their comprehensive 3-1 triumph at Brentford in the Premier League with another victory against Villa. Everton will now face top-flight rivals Burnley in the fifth round of the Carabao Cup.

Dyche has insisted that Everton have deserved more than some have their results have suggested their term and now feels his troops are bearing the fruits of their labour. He said: “I think the performances we’ve shown on the whole this season - obviously we didn’t play well particularly in the second half against Arsenal and we were really poor against these [Villa] in the league - but the other performances I believe have been at least decent and that we deserved more.

“I certainly think that Saturday in the league was important and I think we’ve followed it up with a very, very good performance tonight which we definitely earned with the right result.”

Dyche also saluted with the intensity of his players and cited that their flexibility to operate in a new formation that included three centre-backs paid off.

The Goodison Park chief added: “I’m really pleased with the players, the flexibility - I spoke to them before and after the game to take on a different shape, but, equally, I told them tactics don’t win games, performances do.

“It’s about the individuals and the team ethic, which is going in the right direction, and I think it was on show again tonight, I think tactics were delivered well from the players but equally that intent to go and take the game on - both in and out of possession - and I think that was really, really pleasing.”