If ever there was an occasion for Everton to underscore their transition away from the dark days of their recent past to a brighter future by the docks, the return to Merseyside of Sean Dyche was it. Boy, did they reveal that contrast, not least in terms of the performance and the result today compared with this same fixture last season when the 54-year-old was prowling the touchline in the home manager’s technical area at Goodison Park couldn’t have been more stark.
Building from the platform of an excellent start delivered by star man Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Everton book-ended the first half with goals and eventually powered their way to a handsome 3-0 victory that finally saw Thierno Barry get off the mark and one which vaults them into the top five for the time being. Quite the change from 29 December last year, Dyche's last home game in charge, when a 2-0 reverse to Nuno Espirito Santo's Forest left the Toffees just two points off the relegation zone heading into 2025.
Everton and Nottingham Forest came into this season's edition of this fixture on similar runs of good results (albeit with the Blues still smarting from a drubbing by Newcastle in their last game at Bramley-Moore Dock) and with both teams dealing with selection problems but David Moyes’s men proved far too strong for Dyche’s charges.
Deployed again as more of a No 8 alongside the outstanding James Garner, Dewsbury-Hall was magnificent and deserving of the strike that put the cherry on the cake 10 minutes from time. On the right, Iliman Ndiaye was typically electric, Charly Alcaraz was industrious behind Barry and if Jack Grealish was once again a little subdued by his standards and, perhaps, too nonchalant at times, he almost came up with an assist for Dewsbury-Hall in the second half as Everton fell just short of meting out a proper hiding to their former boss.
Sandwiched in the middle of away wins at Old Trafford and Vitality Stadium that were as surprising as they were welcome, the harrowing nature of the defeat to the Magpies will have tempered the Evertonian mood ahead of the visit of a Forest team who had hauled themselves out of the bottom three with a sequence of results that included a stunning 3-0 win at Anfield.
Added to that was the potential absence of Michael Keane who missed the trip to the south coast on Tuesday and who required a late fitness test before being cleared to play this afternoon. Had he not made it, it would have forced Moyes to either move Garner to full-back or recall Nathan Patterson from the cold but, thankfully, neither option were needed. Keane lined up alongside James Tarkowski, Jake O’Brien moved back to right-back while Alcaraz was handed a second consecutive start.
Everton’s start to the match was as explosive as their opening minute against Newcastle had been shambolic. Grealish was chopped down unceremoniously by Nicolo Savona after just 30 seconds and though Garner’s free-kick was initially cleared, he got the ball back to play a neat interchange with Dewsbury-Hall that saw the latter drive with the ball to the byline, cut back smartly onto his right foot and fire it across goal where it took a crucial touch off the ducking Nikola Milenković and nestled in the far corner of the net.
It was the perfect beginning and though there were periods in the rest of the first period where Forest tried to find their feet and a way back into the contest, the Toffees were often accomplished in possession and always dangerous in transition.
Identified as a potential aerial threat following his maiden goal for the Trees in midweek at Wolves, Igor Jesus had the visitors’ first effort on goal with a header at the back post that he planted narrowly wide before the hosts had two chances to double their advantage.
Nico Williams’s ill-advised pass back towards his goalkeeper was intercepted by Barry in the Forest box and though Alcaraz couldn’t capitalise, Dewsbury-Hall nipped in to reclaim the ball off Morgan Gibbs-White before driving a bouncing shot from 20 yards that Matz Sels pushed away.
Then, in the 27th minute after Dewsbury-Hall did well to keep alive a Garner corner, the ball fell to Ndiaye but his goal-bound shot cannoned off Williams and behind.
For Dyche, there was encouragement as the game moved into first-half stoppage time with Forest growing in stature in the game. Gibbs-White popped up at the end of a deep cross but his volley back across the six-yard box was claimed by Jordan Pickford and Elliot Anderson struck a low shot between Tarkowski’s legs that the keeper shovelled away from goal.
However, in the last of the added minutes before the interval, Ndiaye pounced on a loose touch by Omari Hutchinson and raced away on a three-on-one the counter with Barry and Alcaraz on either side offering ideal candidates for a final ball if he elected not to shoot. With just one retreating defender in front of him, the Senegalese unselfishly slipped it to his left for Barry to stroke it convincingly wide of the stranded Sels and into the far corner.
Having had his visible relief at finally breaking his duck wiped out out against Newcastle when his sliced finish was chalked off for handball, there was even more joy on this occasion for the Frenchman who has had to wait an eternity to get off the mark. Hill Dickinson Stadium celebrated with him before referee Chris Kavanagh blew for half-time with Everton in what would prove to be an unassailable position.
Exhibiting an assurance on the ball and supported by tireless running and pressing by the likes of Barry, Alcaraz and Dewsbury-Hall, Everton were largely in control even as Dyche’s side enjoyed the greater share of the possession in the second half.
The Blues did have to survive a couple of scares, though, either side of the hour mark after Grealish, who had started a breakaway with an excellent tackle in his own half, had teed up Garner for a side-foot shot from the edge of the box that Sels spilled and then gathered after Garner’s direct free-kick had ricocheted off the defensive wall.
First, Tarkowski was called upon to make a vital last-ditch tackle on Williams after an uncharacteristic slip by Dewsbury-Hall outside his own area. Then, Pickford’s tentative punch on Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross led to a scramble near the penalty spot and substitute Nicolas Dominguez looked odds-on to make it 2-1 but Tarkowski stopped his shot near the goal line and the ball was belted clear.
From then on, apart from a late Hutchinson free-kick that was repelled by Pickford, the threat to add to the scoreline came from Everton. Dewsbury-Hall intercepted a pass in the opposition half and fed Grealish who returned the ball and the Toffees’ No 22 swept a left-foot shot off the outside of the post from 18 yards out.
Then, after strong work by substitute Dwight McNeil, who looked as sharp and fit during this cameo than at any time since he suffered a knee injury a year ago, Ndiaye kept his feet just inside the area and dug out a shot that prompted a finger-tip save from Sels.
The third goal would follow soon afterwards, though, following another Garner corner from the Everton left to which Sels could only get a glancing punch. And when O’Brien knocked the loose ball back into Dewsbury-Hall’s path, the former Chelsea man lashed it though a forest of legs back across the keeper and in.
Beto, on for Barry who had earlier been booked, would have a late header off an inviting in-swinger from McNeil that flew a yard wide that would have further embellished a tremendous day but 3-0 represented a fine afternoon’s work and a fourth win in five for the Blues.
With difficult assignments against Chelsea and Arsenal to come before Christmas, this was the perfect way to follow up that laudable win at Dean Court on Tuesday, particularly given the changes in midfield forced upon Moyes by Idrissa Gueye and Tim Iroegbunam’s suspension.
More than that, this was a study in how far Everton have come over the last 12 months, first with the resurgence in their form under Moyes over the second half of last season and now the increasingly satisfying performances since the lift in quality with the new signings over the summer.
Sitting as high in the table as they have at this stage of the season in any season since 2020/21, the Toffees can start looking at the top half rather than the bottom. Quite how far they can go and whether Europe is a realistic target remains to be seen, especially given the imminent departures for AFCoN of Ndiaye and Gueye.
But Moyes and his players are finding ways to power through not having key players and you’d back them to keep doing it over the course of the rest of the campaign.