Everton 1 Brighton 1
Sean Dyche’s side welcomed Brighton to Goodison Park with the mood definitely better after an impressive win at West Ham last weekend. The Toffees’ fans were hoping to see back-to-back wins, something that had been as rare as meteor showers of late.
Everton started on the front foot and as Milner failed to deal with a cross, the ball dropped to Doucoure who could only volley his effort straight at the Brighton keeper. Big chance missed for the hosts.
McNeil then crossed from the left, Mykolenko met it at the near post but Verbruggen made a smart stop. The ball ricocheted straight back to the Ukrainian who made no mistake with his second effort and fired Everton into the lead.
Branthwaite then gave away an unnecessary free kick, pulling on the shirt of Adingra some thirty or so yards from goal. As the ball was lofted into the box, centre back Lewis Dunk met with a stunning volley, seeing his shot hit the underside of the bar and going in.
Credit: @premierleague
There was a huge cheer from the home fans as they were saved by VAR as the review of the goal decided that Dunk was offside in the build-up. It was a huge let-off for Sean Dyche’s side, something he would have been hoping they make good use of.
Dwight McNeil was then bundled over, looking at the referee and demanding a penalty be given. As the replays showed, the contact was initially outside the box despite The Toffees winger ending up three yards inside the penalty area.
Sadly this isn’t rugby and you cannot allow your momentum to dictate your final position. What rubbed salt into the wounds for the home fans was that the referee decided not to even award Everton a free kick for the challenge.
However, when Gilmour was upended on the edge of the box in the second half, the referee was quick to award the visitors a free kick. Dunk stepped up to take it and his effort was heading into the top corner before Pickford was able to turn it over.
The man often lamented for having some of the smallest arms on a human being, found they were amply long enough to get to the Brighton defender’s well-placed effort. Toffees’ fans were hoping that they were heading towards another three points.
The Seagulls were starting to exert some real pressure and as Mitoma glided past Young the ball broke to Gross whose effort went through a crowd of players and whistled over the crossbar. Roberto de Zerbi was becoming more and more animated on touchline.
Credit: @OfficialBHAFC
Everton managed to carve out a rare glimpse of goal in the second half but the impressive McNeil dragged his shot into the side netting. It was a big chance for Dyche’s side to put this game to bed in the latter stages.
Pickford then launched a free kick up towards Calvert-Lewin who went down under the challenge of the defender, looking for a penalty. The referee was not interested and the replays showed the striker went down easier than a deep-sea diver.
Dahoud then picked out Mitoma in acres of space on the left, he checked onto his left foot and his cross deflected off the thigh of Ashley Young. The ball looped up and lobbed Pickford who was stood on his own goal line. There were those little arms once again.
Everton had a late chance to win it but Tarkowski’s header hit the back of his own player and Brighton managed to scramble the ball clear. Both sides had to share the points, with Brighton being far more pleased with the result having been behind for so much of the game.
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