Aston Villa v Everton

The man who invented the Football League played in its very first season.

When William McGregor of Aston Villa proposed the formation of the Football League in 1888, both Villa and Everton were among the twelve clubs invited to join. Their first league meeting came during that inaugural 1888-89 season, establishing a fixture that would become one of the most frequently played in English football history. Villa finished runners-up that first season; Everton placed eighth.

Five league titles and a Double for Villa, a championship for Everton: the 1890s were shared between two giants of the era.

The 1890s belonged to both clubs. Aston Villa won five league titles between 1894 and 1900, and completed the prestigious league and FA Cup Double in 1897. Everton claimed their first league championship in 1891. Matches between the two were genuine clashes of the era's elite, regularly drawing some of the largest crowds in English football.

Villa and Everton swapped the FA Cup between them in back-to-back seasons; neighbours in ambition, if not geography.

Villa Park had already established itself as one of England's great football grounds, hosting FA Cup semi-finals from 1901. Everton, meanwhile, had moved to Goodison Park in 1892 and built it into a formidable fortress. The fixture between these two became a marker of the English football calendar. Villa won the FA Cup in 1905, while Everton claimed it in 1906, the two clubs trading silverware in consecutive years.

Sixty goals in a single season; Dean made Villa's defenders look decidedly ordinary.

The interwar period produced some extraordinary encounters. Everton's legendary centre-forward Dixie Dean, who scored a still-unmatched 60 league goals in 1927-28, was a regular tormentor of Villa defences. Everton won the league title in 1928, 1932, and the FA Cup in 1933. Villa, though less dominant than in their Victorian pomp, remained a top-flight fixture and the matches between the two were reliably high-scoring affairs.

Cup winners in May, Second Division in two years; Villa's glory came with a swift, humbling postscript.

The post-war years were unkind to both clubs. Villa won the FA Cup in 1957, beating Manchester United 2-1 in the final, but were relegated to the Second Division in 1959. Everton also experienced lean years before Harry Catterick rebuilt them into title contenders in the 1960s. For a spell, the two clubs found themselves in different divisions, a rare interruption to one of English football's longest-running fixtures.

A single Peter Withe goal in Rotterdam was enough to bring European football's greatest prize to the Midlands.

Under Ron Saunders and then Tony Barton, Aston Villa won the First Division title in 1981 and followed it with the European Cup in 1982, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in Rotterdam. Everton, under Howard Kendall, would soon enjoy their own golden era, winning the league in 1985 and 1987 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985. The early-to-mid 1980s saw both clubs at the peak of their powers, and their league meetings carried genuine title implications.

Founding fathers twice over; Villa and Everton helped build English football's top flight in both 1888 and 1992.

Just as they had been founding members of the Football League in 1888, both Aston Villa and Everton were among the 22 clubs that formed the Premier League in 1992. Villa finished runners-up in the inaugural 1992-93 season under Ron Atkinson. Everton, managed by Howard Kendall in his second spell, survived a dramatic final-day escape from relegation in 1994. The fixture remained a staple of the Premier League calendar for over two decades.

Twenty-four years of top-flight football, paused by a single relegation season; some fixtures simply refuse to be ordinary.

Aston Villa's relegation from the Premier League in 2016 ended a 24-year unbroken run in the top flight and temporarily removed this fixture from the calendar. Villa spent three seasons in the Championship before Dean Smith guided them back to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2019. The reunion with Everton was welcomed by supporters of both clubs, a reminder that some fixtures simply belong in the top division.

Forty-two years on from their 1982 European Cup win, Villa were back among Europe's elite under Emery.

Under Unai Emery, Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League in 2024 for the first time since their European Cup triumph in 1982. Everton, meanwhile, moved to their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium for the 2025-26 season after 133 years at Goodison Park. The two clubs now sit at very different points in their trajectories, but the fixture retains its historical significance. With over 200 competitive meetings between them, Villa v Everton remains one of English football's most enduring encounters.