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If it felt as though the team was down to the bare bones against Burnley on Saturday, there would be sobering news when the team sheets were announced ahead of this evening’s clash with Nottingham Forest. Charly Alcaraz and Michael Keane’s names were added to a lengthy list of absentees after picking up injuries either during or in the time since the goalless draw at Turf Moor and, looking at the patched-up side David Moyes was forced to put out at the City Ground, most Evertonians would have gladly taken another away point if offered it before kick-off.
That Everton not only came away from the East Midlands with a positive result but took all three points was remarkable given the paltry resources at the manager’s disposal. Yes, it required a performance that was backs-to-the-wall for much of the night but thanks to a gritty showing from pretty much every player in Blue, two fine goals and an imperious display by James Garner, the Toffees completed an impressive league double over former boss, Sean Dyche.
The handsome 3-0 victory over Forest at Bramley-Moore Dock 24 days ago was, arguably, the most complete performance of the season thus far but it was secured with the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish in the side. Tonight, with the former two absent along with Keane, Alcaraz, Idrissa Gueye, Jarrad Branthwaite and Seamus Coleman, and Grealish only well enough to make the bench, the manager was forced to call up two more players from the Under-21s in the form of Callum Bates and Braiden Graham to round his list of substitutes.
In the emergency, Nathan Patterson and Merlin Röhl were drafted in for their first starts at right-back and centre-midfield respectively while Jake O’Brien reprised the central-defensive role he enjoyed in the win over Bournemouth at the beginning of the month.
Meanwhile, Thierno Barry was reinstated up front in place of Beto and, having finally opened his account for the club against these same opponents, he found the net again with a terrific striker’s finish that proved to be decisive against a Dyche outfit that huffed, puffed and assailed the Blues’ box with a barrage of crosses but ultimately failed to find a way past Jordan Pickford.
There was a couple of close calls in the second half — Igor Jesus almost capitalised on an awful mixup in Everton’s six-yard box on the hour mark and substitute Dilane Bakwa went very close to halving the home team’s deficit three minutes from the end of the regulation 90 — but despite ceding the bulk of the possession, territory and shots, the Toffees always felt fairly comfortable, especially at 2-0.
They were 1-0 up with less than 20 minutes gone in the first period, scoring with what was only the second clear real chance of the game. James Tarkowski had put an early opportunity into John Victor’s arms following a short corner but a lovely move eventually unpicked Dyche’s defence.
It was started by Garner’s curled pass down the touchline for Barry and ended by the No 37 once Tim Iroegbunam had smartly wrestled himself clear of the attentions of Nicolás Domínguez and, passed infield to Dwight McNeil who, in turn, played Garner in with a slide-rule pass.
The former Forest loanee let the ball run past him before rapping it across the keeper and into the far corner without needing to look up. It was only Garner’s third Premier League goal but it set Everton on their way to a fine victory.
As Forest tried to respond, Callum Hudson-Odoi should have done better when he ghosted in behind Patterson and Tyler Dibling but could only scuff a shot towards the side-netting, Jesus planted a header straight at Pickford, and it wasn’t until the 44th minute that Oleksandr Zinchenko finally forced the England goalie into action with a direct free-kick attempt that was effortlessly pushed over for a corner.
Clearly under directions from Dyche to up their game after the interval, the hosts enjoyed a 20-minute spell of dominance to begin the second half that made for uncomfortable viewing from the Evertonian perspective yet Moyes’s men repelled everything that was thrown at them, including a succession of corners.
Douglas Luiz, a half-time introduction in place of Dominguez, raked an accurate but relatively harmless shot at Pickford after 55 minutes but Forest really should have pounced when O’Brien’s attempted clearance hit Garner in his own box and bounced to Jesus, Iroegbunam failed to steal it off the striker and the Brazilian could only prod inches wide of goal from around 12 yards out.
Morgan Gibbs-White glanced a free header well off target in the 66th minute before the contest really started to open up and Everton, who had soaked up an inordinate amount of pressure, began getting opportunities of their own on the counter-attack.
Barry led the first, picking Röhl out with a threaded pass between retreating defenders but the increasingly fatigued German ended up running into a cul-de-sac and was dispossessed.
On the second breakaway, it was Iroegbunam for whom the cogs seem to seize up following a lung-busting run and he eschewed a shot from the edge of the box and was also dispossessed.
Tarkowski really should have doubled the lead after Garner’s dreadful corner came back to him and he swung a cross to the back post where the defender nodded the wrong side of the post with the goal beckoning. And Garner himself came close to bagging again after Grealish had been introduced for Patterson when he smashed a shot across goal after a McNeil shot had been blocked.
But the killer goal did finally arrive when an Everton counter-attack paid dividends in style. This time, Garner and McNeil joined forces to rob Douglas Luiz of the ball deep in the Blues’ half before the latter slid it out to Barry in the centre-circle.
The Frenchman quickly spotted Garner’s run into space down the left channel and found him with an accurate pass. Garner looked initially to have been held up by Murillo but he neatly side-stepped the defender with a deft touch and picked Barry out with a perfectly-weighted ball that the striker controlled as he bore down on goal before slotting it wide of Victor and in.
Pickford made an unconventional block to deny Gibbs-White from close range as Forest pushed in vain for a route back into the match and then parried a Neco Williams drive away to safety but only Bakwa came close when he hammered a shot across the face of goal, just missing both the far post and Gibbs-White’s lunge.
The margin and nature of this win, Everton’s first since the reverse fixture on the 6th of December, seemed inconceivable before kick-off in the context of the Blues’ rather ineffective display against Burnley three days ago and the further depletion of Moyes’s threadbare squad.
Yet, in keeping with the canny Scot’s ability to produce results in the face of adversity, Everton’s players dug deep and found inspiration where Dyche’s charges could not. Back on his old stomping ground, Garner was magnificent but his efforts were supported by a terrific rearguard action by the likes of Tarkowski, O’Brien and Vitalii Mykolenko, the ever-improving Iroegbunam alongside him in midfield and laudable showings by McNeil and Dibling on the flanks.
The victory lifts the Toffees back into eighth place (at least until the likes of Tottenham, Fulham and Crystal Palace play on New Year’s Day) but it will have injected huge confidence into the squad that they can navigate this testing period without some of their biggest stars and most creative outlets for the next few weeks… assuming, of course, the glut of injuries doesn’t somehow get worse!