Everton stayed up in the Premier League and avoided a first relegation in 72 years to complete their rehabilitation under Sean Dyche thanks to a stunning goal by Abdoulaye Doucoure, a player who had fallen out of favour in the latter days of predecessor Frank Lampard’s reign.
Despite having already posted the lowest equivalent points total in the club’s entire 135-year Football League and Premier League history, Everton nevertheless went into the final day of the season with their fate in their own hands, knowing that a victory would be enough to avoid the drop, regardless of what their rivals did elsewhere.
As expected, the Blues took to the field against the backdrop of a wall of tumultuous noise and passion but even in these conditions, in reality it was unlikely to be anything other than a nerve-shredding afternoon.
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Leicester City were ahead from the 34th minute and while the action remained goalless at Goodison Park, that scoreline would have been enough to send the Blues down but their moment of salvation arrived on 57 minutes when an Amadou Onana header dropped to Doucoure who despatched a perfectly-struck volley to get the goal that ensured that whatever was going on at the King Power Stadium and Elland Road became irrelevant.
Everton were galvanised from that moment onwards and were ‘relatively’ assured from then on to hold on for their win – although Jordan Pickford had to make a stoppage time save from Bournemouth substitute Matias Vina – even though they had to endure a marathon 10 minutes of stoppage time.
As the final whistle blew, thousands of fans took to the field as repeated messages from the stadium’s public address system implored them to leave, telling them that encroachment onto the field of play is an offence and unlike Crystal Palace a year ago, the field was cleared relatively swiftly. While the overriding feeling was one of huge relief, it quickly turned to anger for some with chants of “sack the board” ringing out moments after Everton had survived.
