There may not ever be a lot of love between the Toffees and Sean Dyche but when the history of the gravel-voiced East Midlander’s time at Everton is written, it will be notable for how he was able to regroup his charges in the face of adversity and get them back on an even keel when it would have been easy for them fall apart. Unlike his two predecessors, Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard, who both proved utterly incapable of reversing the tide once results went into a tailspin, Dyche has consistently been able to re-find focus and grind out results.

There have been times when the passion of Seamus Coleman has been needed to provide that extra impetus and to remind a first-team squad that, Harrison Armstrong aside, has no local representation just what it means to play for Everton and how devastating relegation would be one of England’s most prestigious clubs. But Dyche has managed to fall back on a defensive ethos and a demand for maximum effort to grind out results this and the one at Arsenal last weekend and keep the Blues on a solid, if wholly un-exciting pace of a point per game.

Chelsea, the side that demolished Everton at Stamford Bridge in April — another result that was followed not by collapse but an impressive hat-trick of home wins by Dyche’s side that effectively secured top-flight safety last season — came into this fixture as the hottest team in the Premier League, having scored 16 times in their last five league games.

They left windswept L4 having been shut out for the first time since in every fixture since being blanked by Manchester City on the opening day and denied the chance to take top spot from Liverpool for a couple of hours. Just as they were at the Emirates, Everton were organised, combative, determined and resolute in a defensive performance that was rewarded with another precious point.

Truth be told, having absorbed what they allowed Enzo Maresca’s men to throw at them and survived a scare when Nicolas Jackson twice went close in the first half, the Toffees will have left the field feeling disappointed they didn’t pinch all three points. They may well have done had Iliman Ndiaye not been foiled by an excellent block near the goal-line by Tosin Adarabioyo and were Jack Harrison crippled by confidence in front of goal but in terms of what continues to be a battle to avoid being sucked into the bottom three, this was an encouraging display in front of new Executive Chairman, Marc Watts, and, no doubt, the Friedkins watching on from afar.

The possession statistics will have surprised no one. Everton managed just a hair above the 23% they had against Arsenal, ceding territory and the ball to Chelsea and setting their stall out to contain and defend while hoping to either spring something on the counter-attack or take advantage of the wind swirling around the Old Lady by launching high balls towards Dominic Calvert-Lewin up front.

The second, more direct route looked a promising one early on when Abdoulaye Doucouré, stepping out of a midfield three when the hosts had the ball, latched onto the striker’s flick-on and played him down the left but Calvert-Lewin failed to beat Robert Sanchez with his chipped cross and it didn’t end up being a consistent outlet. Neither was the set-piece, as Ashley Young floated a harmless direct effort into the goalkeeper’s arms with quarter of an hour gone and Jordan Pickford failed to get a handle on the conditions all afternoon long, many of his deep deliveries sailing out of play.

Instead, it was from open play that Everton fashioned their best chance of the first period when Ndiaye cleverly released Doucouré ahead of him into the opposition half with a ball between two white shirts and the Frenchman squared it to Orel Mangala whose accurate low shot was palmed away from danger at full stretch by Sanchez.

Chelsea, meanwhile, moved the ball around crisply at times and occasionally found the penetration they needed to eventually carve out two chances to go ahead in the first half hour. Moises Caicedo managed to get the better of Idrissa Gueye to prod a ball forward into space for Pedro Neto who quickly found the run of Cole Palmer and his square pass fell invitingly to Jackson eight yards out but Jordan Pickford did well to adjust his feet and block the shot away to safety.

Then, after Jackson had momentarily drawn Pickford off his line and forced the Blues’ keeper into parrying his shot from the angle behind, the resulting corner came within inches of resulting in the opening goal. Neto’s in-swinger evaded everyone and sat up for Jackson at the back post but he could only plant his header onto the woodwork from very close range.

Everton’s best chance arrived five minutes after the restart when Calvert-Lewin drifted off his man to knock a long Pickford ball off to Ndiaye on the left and his bouncing delivery found Harrison all alone at the back post but he tried to slide it past the keeper rather than lift it and Sanchez made a stop with an out-stretched foot and Chelsea cleared.

Yet the Toffees would go agonisingly close one more time with 13 minutes left when Beto, on for Calvert-Lewin, out-muscled Levi Colwill in the centre-circle and helped the ball on to Mangala and when he fed Jesper Lindstrom down the right and Sanchez got a touch on the Dane’s low cross, Ndiaye seemed odds-on to rap it home from six yards out but Tosin threw himself in the way and charged his effort down.

Mangala’s curling left-footer at the death lacked the pace to beat the keeper from 25 yards which would have made for a spectacular winner but it wasn’t to be and both sides had to be content with a point.

It takes Everton’s tally from two very tough assignments against high-flying opponents from the Capital to two points and ensures that they will go into Christmas sitting in 16th place for the second year running. Pleasingly, Dyche has managed to lock down a defence that somehow shipped four goals against Manchester United at the start of the month but with his team having scored in just one of their last seven matches, the shortage of goals means that a heavy onus remains on the defence to be faultless on a weekly basis.

Whether the transfer window under the new owners will allow for strategic and targeted acquisitions to address the chronic absence of attacking threat remains to be seen. If not, it’s going to be a case of nip-and-tuck for a good few weeks to come.


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