Joe Thomas match verdict after Everton were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at

Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League

For Everton, who are unable to win, a draw seems like a defeat for the second time in a week.

 

They could not have asked for a better way to begin a match on Monday when they took on a struggling Crystal Palace team without a manager in the dugout and with several injured players.

They had the perfect opportunity to win the game on Saturday, leading a

frustrated Brighton & Hove Albion squad that was reduced to 10 men as stoppage time approached.

There is an issue because the Blues did not win. For a while now, it has seemed like everything is against Everton in a lot of ways. When it isn’t, they only need to seize the opportunity. However, and this is a difficult but crucial point to make at this point, there is some cause for optimism that they might finally begin to do that.

It looked like the Blues would finally take advantage of their good fortune as the rain continued to fall and the clock approached five o’clock at the Amex Stadium. When the halftime whistle rang and the score remained goalless, there would have been relief in the away dressing room as Brighton had been the better team for the majority of the first half. Simon Adingra and Danny Welbeck

were a threat both down the right of the opposition and through the middle.

Welbeck twice made a threat in the Everton box, but only James Tarkowski

and Ben Godfrey’s valiant challenges kept him at bay. Adingra, wearing his

Africa Cup of Nations winners’ gold around his neck as he led the teams out,

launched a daring run that went inches beyond the angle.

The Blues struggled to assert any authority during this period and chances were rare. Some did come though and Lewis Dunk did what his Everton counterparts did – save his side just in time as he beat Dominic Calvert-Lewin to a devilish Vitalii Mykolenko cross and slid in when Abdoulaye Doucoure prepared to shoot from close range.

 

The Blues were lucky to reach the break level after 45 minutes in which they had conceded eight corners. The warning sign for what was to come later was sounded as the final three of those led to attacking headers on target.

 

Having survived that onslaught, Everton grew into the match in the second half and the longer it continued the more the frustration in the home stands built. It is

tempting to say Jarrad Branthwaite’s stunning, curling finish when a free kick

fell to him in the box was against the run of play but just minutes earlier Doucoure

had forced a sensational goal-line clearance from Tariq Lamptey when he

met a Dwight McNeil cross with a volley that beat Bart Verbruggen. The Blues

were a growing threat and the home fans knew it.

The hosts threw everything at Everton after Branthwaite’s goal sent the away end into meltdown. Billy Gilmour went

too far, and it’s a good thing the Belgian international, who was substituted for

Idrissa Gueye after the half, did not look to be hurt in the lunge on Amadou

Onana that earned him a red card with ten minutes remaining.

Brighton, despite being a player down, flooded forward and the Blues retreated.

In the nine minutes added on the pressure paid off and Dyche will be

unhappy with how Dunk’s equaliser unfolded. A corner was partially cleared

and when it was recycled to Pascal Gross, who shimmied past Beto before

delivering a ball that should have been defended more robustly. Beto and Jack

Harrison had good chances either side of that injury-time equaliser.

 

It was a sickening blow to an Everton side that needs to start winning games if it is to pull clear of the trouble the 10-

point deduction has plunged this mid-table team into. Amid the desolation of

this result, and frustration at the lengthening search for a first league win

since December 16, there are positive signs, however.

 

 

Everton are creating chances. Most of them are from set-pieces but both Doucoure opportunities came from

passages of play that have been notably absent during his two months sidelined.

The return of Dyche’s most important player offers hope.

 

This is a side that is still fighting too – just look at Onana’s late equaliser against Palace, or Branthwaite’s stoppage-time

leveller against Tottenham Hotspur. McNeil chased down a lost cause to

create the Doucoure volley and this team contains a resilience that has been

missing at this stage of the past two campaigns.

Branthwaite’s influence is only growing, as demonstrated once more on the south

coast. Instead of retreating inside himself following his unlucky tumble as Erling Haaland raced through on goal earlier

this month, a young player is starting to show leadership qualities. Not only was

it crucial that he scored his second goal in as many weeks, but it was also crucial

that he made an excellent challenge on Adingra in the second half, a tackle that

resulted in an equally forceful fist celebration as his goal.

 

To use a phrase from Dyche, the headline “stats and facts” read, “two months and nine games without a Premier League

win.” Currently, for reasons that are beyond the control of Dyche and his players, the league table least, displays

21 points. This week’s outcomes are both frustrating.

However, this team is more formidable than the ones from the previous two terrible seasons at this point. Even while the score may not reflect it, the eight victories and seven draws indicate that improvement is happening. Especially against Brighton, the outcome could seem like two points lost. It’s still a valid point, though. Perhaps it seemed like two points lost against Palace. However, it was one point more than this team would have won in prior iterations. Nine league games could go by without a victory. Five of those, though, were drawn. This is not the moment to rejoice or get comfortable. However, this is not a hopeless moment either.