Everton 2 – 0 Forest
Everton took a big step towards securing their Premier League safety with a victory over rivals Nottingham Forest thanks to two pin-point efforts from range by Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil.
The Blues needed to offer a strong performance in a crucial game following their horrendous showing at Chelsea and they responded well to another big Goodison Park atmosphere and the urging of manager Sean Dyche to make amends for last Monday’s 6-0 defeat.
Gueye popped up as the unlikely hero in the first half, raking home Everton’s first shot on target with 28 minutes gone and McNeil doubled the advantage with a similar effort in the second period.
But the hosts had Jordan Pickford to thank for a magnificent save shortly before half-time, while Forest were left incensed by three penalty claims that were waved away by referee, Anthony Taylor, with VAR Stuart Attwell upholding the on-pitch decisions.
Having hooked Amadou Onana and James Garner at half-time at Stamford Bridge, Dyche left both players out of the starting line-up, preferring the fit-again Gueye and André Gomes in the middle while Ashley Young dropped back to right-back to deputise for the injured Seamus Coleman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin returned to lead the line up front.
Everton came out of the traps with the requisite effort and industry but made a poor start in terms of their use of the ball and it was Forest who almost drew first blood as Morgan Gibbs-White forced Pickford to parry away his strong drive.
Gomes wasted three set-piece opportunities with poor deliveries and Vitalii Mykolenko skied a woeful effort into the Park End before the hosts finally gave Matz Sels something to save when Calvert-Lewin stretched to meet McNeil’s cross from the left but couldn’t get enough power to steer it past the goalkeeper.
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s tame effort was gathered at the second attempt by Pickford at one end before, a minute later at the other, Gueye put Everton ahead.
Mykolenko’s delivery from the left was headed out to Gueye by Ola Aina and the Senegal international controlled it before sweeping a low 25-yard shot that seemed to take an age before nestling into the far corner beyond Sels’ desparing dive.
The visitors came very close to going into the half-time interval level, however, when Gibbs-White bounced a shot towards the back post for Chris Wood who looked odds-on to equalise until Pickford somehow stopped his shot at point-blank range with a raised arm.
His clench-fisted celebration to the Gwladys Street while the ball was still in play in Forest’s possession was indicative of the high stakes of this relegation six-pointer in which the Toffees had the advantage at the break.
With Dyche, attired in an unfamiliar tracksuit as one of the many changes he made to try and change the trajectory of his team’s season, barking orders from the touchline, Everton struggled to find a foothold in second half as Forest went in search of parity.
Calvert-Lewin slashed a snap-shot wide when a corner dropped to his feet in the 54th minute but, on the hour mark, Gibbs-White will feel he should have wiped out the Blues’ lead.
James Tarkowski found himself underneath a ball forward that he could only glance into the path of two red shirts but with just Pickford to beat, Gibbs-White side-footed wide of the target to the huge relief of the home crowd.
Forest were left grumbling when what they felt was a third claim for a penalty was ignored. They were already annoyed that the officials hadn’t deemed either a clip by Young on Gio Reyna or an inadvertent handball by the veteran worthy of spot-kicks but they were livid when the same Everton player clumsily felled Hudson-Odoi in the area and nothing was given.
Calvert-Lewin was forced off with a knock in the 67th minute as part of a double change that also saw Gomes make way and Garner and Beto enter the fray and, nine minutes later, McNeil secured the points.
The winger had been operating in a roving role that frequently saw him pop up in a central area while Abdoulaye Doucouré dropped deeper and the shift in tactic paid dividends as McNeil collected the ball deep in Forest’s half, exchanged passed with Doucouré and drilled a shot from distance that caught the inside of the post and ricocheted in.
McNeil stung Sels’ palms with a powerful shot a couple of minutes later as Everton threatened to run away with it but with the home side defending resolutely behind redemptive displays by Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite, the penalty spot looked to be the most likely route back into the game for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men and they would be shut out on the day.
Everton comfortably saw out a lengthy period of stoppage time after Beto was knocked out cold in a collision with Gibbs-White and had to be stretchered off and taken to hospital as a precaution and claimed three massive points that gives them breathing space at the bottom of the table.
It wasn’t pretty and many of the attacking limitations that have dogged Sean Dyche’s team all season were painfully in evidence again, but this was a display more akin to the team that won those important games back in December (including the victory at the City Ground) than the hideous yard-dog fare that was served up in the last home game against Burnley.
Wednesday’s Merseyside derby looks even more daunting given that both senior centre-forwards look likely to be absent but this bruising encounter was the more important fixture and it puts huge pressure on Luton Town to win the bulk of their remaining four games to close the gap, the unlikely event of a further points deduction following Everton’s appeal notwithstanding!