Everton still have some fight left.
Only time will tell what happens and the fixture list for the next two weeks is troublesome at best, terrifying at worst. But in a game in which defeat could have proved fatal to the club’s precious Premier League status Everton did what they have failed to do so often and overcame adversity.
The loss of the club captain after a sickening collision, the concession of a lead, soft goals and individual and collective mistakes - this trip to Leicester City had all the ingredients of another Everton collapse. Instead the side rallied. And in the final minutes it was James Maddison flinging himself in desperation to stop Idrissa Gueye from bursting forward, Victor Kristiansen felling Nathan Patterson as he threatened to surge beyond him and Daniel Iversen producing a stunning save to prevent what would have been a stunning Abdoulaye Doucoure winner.
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This is not a point that will keep the nightmares of relegation at bay. But after an April of tepid displays and abject collapses the first game of one of the most important Mays in Everton’s esteemed history began with a performance that showed this group of players is still willing to sprint and scrap and scramble while survival is within reach.
It could have been so different. Both teams could have won a frantic game between two sides desperate to earn three points but horrified at the prospect of getting none. As the dust settles and supporters begin to look towards the next torturous 90 minutes in their clubs' battle for survival, there will still be reporters, coaches and analysts trying to make sense of a match that was as chaotic as it was compelling.
At first, Everton dominated. Roared on by a vociferous away end, Sean Dyche’s players began boldly. Alex Iwobi had the first significant chance, forcing Iversen into a diving save after being set up by Doucoure. Michael Keane glanced wide from a corner as Everton kept up the pressure and continued to threaten before Dominic Calvert-Lewin was bundled over in the box by Timothy Castagne.
The striker, enduring another season blighted by injury, hammered home from the spot before running to the away end to orchestrate the celebration. At a time when Everton needed a hero the 26-year-old always looked most likely to step up and had been getting closer and closer since his return from a troublesome hamstring injury. It was his second of the season and the first time Everton had taken the lead in almost two months.
Everton’s intensity continued but would prove its downfall. Dwight McNeil hustled Youri Tielemans and appeared to have won the ball from the Leicester midfielder only for referee Michael Oliver to award a free kick 40 yards from goal. The set piece that followed drifted over everyone but James Vardy at the back post. His cross was met by Wout Faes, whose header landed at the feet of Caglar Soyuncu, whose scuffed finish squirmed beyond Jordan Pickford.
After Everton conceded three goals in nine minutes against Newcastle United on Thursday, Blues boss Dyche said his side needed to find a way to prevent one goal from quickly becoming two. The answer was not found at Finch Farm in the three days between games. And as has been the case so often, the problem was self-generated. Iwobi, looking to be progressive, drove in from the halfway line and sought McNeil only for Tielemans to read his intention and cut out the pass.
Maddison, whose dancing feet had torn apart Everton’s hopes of entering the top half of the league table on Bonfire Night, picked up the ball and threaded it through to Vardy. The foot race with Keane only ever had one winner and the striker rounded Pickford and gave the hosts the lead.
Everton, to the players’ credit, did not stop battling. A deft interchange between Iwobi and Calvert-Lewin set Coleman free and his pull back was met by McNeil. Iversen, body going the wrong way, somehow stuck out a left hand with enough strength to block the shot. Minutes later Calvert-Lewin had another glorious opportunity, meeting McNeil’s cross but tamely shooting at Iversen from two yards - possibly wrongfooted by a late Soyuncu deflection. In between those chances Vardy hit chipped onto the bar as drama pulsed through the stadium.
As Everton looked to get back into the game disaster struck as Coleman collapsed under a challenge from Boubakary Soumare. His leg buckled on impact and he lay stricken on the ground for minutes while the away end sang his name before being carried off with his head in his hands. Attention will turn to whether he will be able to play any role in the final four games of this season.
The loss of the club talisman was almost compounded by a goal that would have left Everton’s Premier League status hanging in the balance. Keane could have little complaint when Vardy’s cross hit his outstretched arm and Oliver pointed to the spot. Maddison, given the chance to open up a two-goal lead against the league’s lowest scoring side, went down the middle and Pickford followed the instruction on his water bottle and stayed central. He palmed away the penalty and gave Everton a reprieve.
So often Everton have emerged from half time as the weaker side. On Monday night the opposite was true. Perhaps buoyed by the penalty save that represented another crucial lifeline offered to the club by England’s number one, they brought the intensity. Calvert-Lewin fired at Iversen and McNeil shot straight at the Leicester keeper. Then up stepped Iwobi to complete his redemption story. Iwobi, who had looked so forlorn after gifting Leicester the chance from which they took the lead, kept trying and his courage was rewarded when the ball dropped to him at the back post and he fired Everton level.
The pendulum then swung in the home side’s favour and for 15 agonising minutes they pushed for a winner, thwarted by the bodies of Keane, James Tarkowski and others. Everton rode that storm though and it was the away side who finished strongest - only to be denied a priceless winner by the heroics of Iversen. As the players walked off at the end of the match the only noise that could drown out the away end was the PA system switched on at full blast. Everton live to fight another day.
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