What a disappointing advert for the Premier League this game was as Huddersfield came for a point, determined to defend and time-waste, while Everton struggled throughout to find any real cohesion despite having most of the possession.
Unbeaten in the Premier League and through to a third round tie in the Carabao Cup, Everton went up against Yorkshires’ Terriers with a squad somewhat hit by injuries. Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka, Idrissa Gana Gueye all joined new signings Bernard, Andre Gomes,Yerri Mina and the suspended Richarlison on the unavailable for selection list, leaving Marco Silva to select his starting eleven: Pickford, Digne, Zouma, Holgate, Coleman (c), Schneiderlin, Davies, Sigurdsson, Walcott, Tosun and Calvert-Lewin.
Winless in the Premier League and already knocked out of the Carabao Cup, the hapless Terriers arrived at Goodison desperate for an upturn in their fortunes. With their club captain Jonathan Hogg suspended following a red card last week against Cardiff and goalie Ben Hamer injured in the sand game, German manager David Wagner also had to make changes. He opted for a line-up of: Loessl, Hadergjonaj, Jorgensen, Schindler (c), Kongolo, Loewe, van La Parra, Nilling, Mooy, Diakhaby and Mounie.
The referee in charge of proceedings was Stuart Attwell.
Billing for the visitors picked up a 4th minute yellow card for a foul on Zouma and the visitors had the better of the opening ten minutes, using their size and pace on the flanks.
Zouma got forward on 12 minutes and crashed a shot from 30 yards narrowly wide and a decent move a couple of minutes later saw Coleman turn in the box but screwed his shot wide.
Tosun went down in the box trying to get on the end of a Walcott cross and got a talking to from the referee for his vocal complaint on the waving away of his penalty claims.
A nice turn by Sigurdsson took him away from Mooy to release Tosun on the left flank. The Turk took on his man and beat him but his rising shot didn’t trouble Loessl in the visitors goal.
The Blues were dominating possession and a cross from Digne saw a header from Walcott go wide.
Huddersfield forced two quick corners and from the second from their right hand side, the ball was flicked on at the near post and Billing had an easy finish from six yards on 34 minutes. Another disappointing conceded goal from a set piece.
As the visiting fans celebrated, Everton went straight down the other end and a sweet cross from Digne saw DCL open his league account with an excellent header inside the far post.
Walcott had a shot deflected for a corner before getting hurt and needing treatment after sliding off the pitch and the final chance saw the former Arsenal man send in a cross for DCL to get on the end of but he couldn’t direct his header on target.
Half Time: 1-1
No changes by either side during the interval saw the second half begin with a strong shot by Mounie, easily dealt with by Pickford. Some good work by DCL on the left saw him use his pace and strength to work an opening for a cross that came to nothing.
Mason Holgate picked up a yellow card on 54 minutes ahead of Ademola Lookman replacing Walcott.
In what was becoming an increasingly scrappy and frustrating second half, Kachunga replaced Diakhaby for the visitors and Tom Davies lunge at Billing earned him a yellow card.
Three changes on 75 minutes saw Durm replace the now booked Hadergjonaj, Leighton Baines and Oumar Niasse replace Digne and Sigurdsson respectively.
Niasse from a long ball by Pickford forced a corner that Baines swung over for DCL to header agonisingly over the bar, and when Niasse earned another corner, he headed the cross from Baines back across goal for Tosun, but his header went too high as well.
Full Time: 1-1
Personal comment.
Everton were far, far from at their best and despite having the lions share of the possession, you have to create something with it. All too often, the Blues were hesitant or lost their impetus with too many misplaced passes against a Huddersfield side who came for and got their point with a mixture of dour defence and blatant time-wasting throughout the 94 minutes