Wesley gains confidence from first Aston Villa strike

Aston Villa’s record buy Wesley insists there is more to come after his first goal for the club.

The £22million summer signing from Club Brugge opened his Villa account in Friday’s 2-0 win over Everton.

He became the first player to score against the Toffees in the Premier League this season as Villa earned their first top-flight victory since February 2016.

Manager Dean Smith had questioned early critics of the 22-year-old but Wesley expects to get better.

“I am very happy to help my team with the goal,” the striker told the club’s official website.

“In the first two games I did not score, but the supporters, manager and my team-mates know me, they know my quality and I am very happy now.

“I hope to continue like this – to help my team-mates, to score goals and to play very well.

“The goal, of course, gives me more confidence. Now I have to continue like this.

“The support was incredible. The noise was incredible. The atmosphere was incredible.

“It’s important for this to continue because it helps you do good things on the pitch. The fans definitely help us.”

Everton missed the chance to go top of the early Premier League table.

Alex Iwobi was given a debut off the bench after his £34million summer move from Arsenal and hit a post late on.

Theo Walcott blazed over in the 89th minute before Anwar El Ghazi wrapped up the points for Villa in stoppage time.

“It’s not the result we want on the back of the home victory we’ve just had,” Iwobi told the club’s official site. “We’re disappointed but we’re not going to dwell on this.

“I felt sharp to be fair, I felt good. But it would have been a better debut if we’d won.

“I had two chances. After the first one that got blocked I thought maybe if I keep going I’ll get another and I was able to do that.

“When I struck it with my left foot I thought it was going in but I saw it come off the post and I was disappointed.

“You can see we are able to create a lot of chances, not just when I came on but even before that.”

FourFourTwo Staff

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