Aston Villa seal win at Everton

Aston Villa moved back to fifth in the English Premier League with an astonishing 3-2 win over Everton on Sunday after a goal in the first minute and one from each side in stoppage time.

In the day's other match, West Bromwich Albion failed to win for the ninth successive match and stayed bottom after being held to a 1-1 draw by Portsmouth at The Hawthorns.

The drama began early at Goodison Park where Steve Sidwell scored for the visitors after 31 seconds -- the quickest Premier League goal of the season.

Everton equalised when Joleon Lescott scored off his knee after 30 minutes before Villa went back in front in the 54th when Ashley Young capitalised on a terrible back-pass from Phil Jagielka to fire past Tim Howard.

Everton then laid siege to Villa's goal and thought they had saved a point when Lescott scored with an acrobatic effort three minutes into stoppage time.

But Villa came roaring back and won the game when Young held off a challenge from the Everton defence to score the winner one minute later with virtually the last kick of the game.

"It was a world class performance from Ashley," Villa boss Martin O'Neill told Sky Sports News.

"It was a fantastic match and we deserved it after scoring three goals at Goodison."

Everton manager David Moyes said: "It feels like a kick in the teeth. I am disappointed as we thought we had done enough for a point."

West Brom went ahead six minutes before halftime when Jonathan Greening pounced on a ball that rebounded back off the bar, but Portsmouth equalised when Peter Crouch crashed home a superb shot from 25 metres in the 58th minute.

The home side, who last won two months ago, also lost striker Ishmael Miller for at least six weeks with a medial knee ligament injury.

Villa's victory meant that the teams in the top six positions all won over the weekend.

Leaders Liverpool won 3-1 at Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 away, Manchester United [Images] overcame Sunderland 1-0 and Arsenal [Images] defeated Wigan Athletic 1-0. Hull City completed a clean sweep for the top six with a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough.

Liverpool lead the standings with 37 points from 16 matches, followed by Chelsea on 36, Manchester United 31 from 15 games, Arsenal 29, Aston Villa 28 and Hull 26.

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