Everton beat Aston Villa 2-0 in Premier League

Birmingham: Romelu Lukaku won the battle of Belgian strikers Saturday, scoring to set Everton on their way to a 2-0 win at Aston Villa in the Premier League after counterpart Christian Benteke missed a first-half penalty.

Benteke could have given the hosts an early lead but his eighth-minute penalty was saved by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, who dived the right way to keep it out.

Belgium team-mate Lukaku then put Everton ahead in the 69th minute with his fifth goal in five games, and Leon Osman added the second in the 81st to hand Villa its fourth home loss of the season.

Everton only have one loss in nine games and provisionally climbed into third place above Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham, who all play Sunday.