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Aston Villa 1-1 Everton
Match Reports, 21:33, January 14, 2012
Aston Villa and Everton were forced to share the spoils in a 1-1 draw, with Victor Anichebe grabbing a point for the visitors.
The hosts were boosted by the return of goalkeeper Shay Given after six weeks out with hamstring problems, while loan signing Robbie Keane started on the bench.
Everton handed a debut to new signing Darron Gibson in midfield, while defender Shane Duffy made a first Premier League start.
The game got off to a slow start, with much of the play condensed in midfield and it took almost 20 minutes for a chance to arrive, with the returning Given making a fine block from a Louis Saha header.
Soon after Given made an even better save to prevent a Stephen Warnock header from going into his own net.
Villa's best opportunity came shortly before the interval when Gabriel Agbonlahor's snapshot from 25 yards was tipped away by Tim Howard for a corner.
The home side started the second half strongly and were rewarded for their improvement just over ten minutes in when Everton failed to clear the lines and Stephen Ireland teed up Darren Bent to net from close range.
Five minutes later the Toffees brought on Anichebe and the sub made his mark with 20 minute left to play as he collected a smart pass from Landon Donovan and finished calmly past Given.
Late on Villa threw on Keane to try and force a winner, but neither side were able to make the all-important breakthrough despite being prepared to commit men forward.
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