O'Brien to the rescue again as Everton salvage yet another draw

There was a lot to question about Sean Dyche as he toiled through his final few months at Everton but the more time goes on, the bigger mystery that surrounds his treatment of Jake O’Brien becomes. The Republic of Ireland international arrived last summer as the Blues’ most expensive acquisition of the transfer window at £17m but didn’t start a Premier League game until David Moyes arrived more than six months later.

In between, the young centre-back made a couple of solid appearances in the Carabao Cup that had fans wondering why he hadn’t been given more opportunities sooner, particularly when Jarrad Branthwaite was battling injury early in the season.

Now, of course, O’Brien is thriving as a makeshift right-back and two and a half weeks after coming up with an equaliser at Brentford, he struck again, this time in stoppage time against West Ham as Everton clawed back a point having failed to maintain their first-half intensity in a disappointingly flat second period. Just as importantly, he was one of the better performers on the day, suggesting that he has a very bright future at the Club, no matter where in the back line he is eventually deployed.

Moyes is, no doubt, using the final few weeks of the campaign to continue his fact-finding mission as he plans for his first full season back in charge and there will have been plenty of food for thought based on this performance. Beto, unfortunately, has lapsed back into the awkward, clumsy fit at centre-forward, Jack Harrison struggled back on the right flank and was rightly substituted, and Abdoulaye Doucouré provided plenty of energy but not much else.

It meant that for all of Everton’s energy and intensity in the first 45 minutes — both of which were markedly absent after the interval until Tomáš Souček’s 67th-minute goal and Moyes’s changes spurred them back into action — there wasn’t much in the way of end product.

With Doucouré selected again in the “number 10” role, Charly Alcaraz deployed wide on the left and Harrison swapping flanks, the Toffees started in what has become familiar fashion since Moyes returned — strong in the press and controlling the direction of the game and neat footwork by Harrison after he had been found by Alcaraz ended with a blocked shot as the first salvo of the contest after eight minutes.

The Hammers didn’t have an attack of note until the 12 minutes had elapsed but they almost went ahead from their first corner when Branthwaite directed a header towards his own goal and forced a reaction save from Jordan Pickford. On the whole, though, it was the hosts carrying the threat and a flurry of crosses in a six-minute spell midway through the half seemed to signal the manager’s key strategy in trying to force home the opening goal.

Harrison cut inside and swung a ball to the back post but Alcaraz’s header was saved; then after a mistake by the visitors was pounced upon, the on-loan winger chipped a ball in for Doucouré but he couldn’t get enough on his header to trouble Alphonse Areola.

Two chances then fell to Beto from either flank, O’Brien whipping a cross that the Portuguese powered over and Vitalii Mykolenko picking him out but the resulting header dropped onto the stanchion behind the goal. And, finally, O’Brien beautifully worked space for another delivery but, again, Doucouré couldn’t get enough purchase on the ball.

Always a threat for Graham Potter’s man, Jarod Bowen had a rare chance at one end with a half-volley that Pickford palmed over before O’Brien lined up a laser effort that Areola beat away but as the clock ticked to 45 minutes, Everton were awarded a penalty when Beto went down in the box under the attentions of Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Referee, Darren Bond, had had a shocker to that point and it turned out that his decision to penalise the Greek defender was another poor decision because, after the VAR had directed him to the pitch-side monitor, he was able to see that the striker had kicked the turf while trying to swivel onto a shot rather than being fouled.

Despite the disappointment of having had a penalty decision reversed in successive home games, there was enough in the first 45 minutes to suggest that the Blues might have enough to eventually go on and win the game if they just kept at it — at least until the likes of Armando Broja and Jesper Lindstrøm came on to offer a different dimension.

Frustratingly, it was West Ham who emerged from the break with the greater purpose while Everton seemed to have lost theirs and the longer the second half wore on, the more it felt as though the game from the home team’s perspective was waiting on those substitutions.

Increasingly, Potter’s men showed more composure and quality on the ball and when Emerson was played in behind by Soucek and he centred for Bowen, Pickford was relieved when the attempted overhead kick by then Hammers’ “false nine” hit his own hand rather than testing the goalkeeper.

Just past the hour mark, Bowen’s drive from a tight angle was parried to safety but after Everton were unable to repel a sustained attack and when Bowen powered his way past O’Brien and slipped the ball to Souček, the Czech worked space for a well-placed snapshot that he swept past the unsighted Pickford and into the far corner.

Moyes, who had been waiting for a couple of minutes for the ball the go dead so he could introduce Lindstrøm for Doucouré, duly made that change before the restart but, for the first few minutes at least it was still the visiting side in the driver’s seat.

Pickford spilled another low shot from Bowen after James Tarkowski had cheaply given the ball away in his own half and then saved Souček’s back-post header to ensure that it remained only 1-0.

Everton re-discovered some of their mojo, though, and Harrison was unlucky that his well-struck volley cannoned off Emerson and behind with a quarter of an hour to go. And when a triple-change that saw Beto, Harrison and the sub-par James Garner replaced by Broja, Youssef Chermiti and Tim Iroegbunam, the pendulum swung the Blues’ way.

Still, it didn’t look as though it was going to be their day. Chermiti had an 84th-minute shot blocked but the resulting corner came to nothing and it was until the game had moved into injury time that the equaliser finally arrived.

Mykolenko’s cross was blocked behind, the corner was cleared but when it was recycled by the Toffees, Chermiti had a cracking effort beaten away by Areola. Still Everton kept it and when Alcaraz crossed towards the back post, Idrissa Gueye’s volleyed it back across goal where O’Brien was perfectly placed to nod home emphatically from close range.

Even better almost followed with one of the last kicks of the game. Once more, the impressive Chermiti was involved as he jumped with his marker for a bouncing ball on the edge of the West Ham area and Alcaraz seized on the loose ball behind the defence. Agonisingly, with just the keeper in front of him, the Argentine screwed his effort just wide of the target and the three points went begging.

As dramatic as that would have been as a finalé, a draw was probably a fair result. Coming into this weekend, no team in the Premier League had drawn more games than Everton and they have now extended their tally to 13 for the season. Today, they were curiously flat in the second half but at least found a way back into the game in time to salvage a point.

Moyes may still be able to lay claim to Everton’s longest unbeaten run for eight years but his team have now tied four of their last five fixtures keeping them hovering in the middle of the bottom half rather than pressing for a place in the top half of the Premier League.

Thankfully, survival is all but guaranteed but in terms of entertainment for supporters, particularly in these final matches at Goodison Park, it’s a little frustrating, with thoughts turning to those impactful players yet to return from injury in the hope that they can spark the side back to winning ways.

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