Obdurate Everton dig in to stymie Arsenal

A pity Doucoure can't control a ball or his feet!

No complaints from me.

Let's keep this run going and perhaps sneak a win next Sunday against Chelsea.

I'm not Doucoure's biggest fan but him in front of Gana and Mangala was a deliberate ploy and it worked.

He offered precious little going forward, granted, but made some vital interceptions and blocks and worked incredibly hard. Exactly what was asked of him. I think we'd have lost today without him. But we would never have won with him, if that makes sense.

It was essentially three defensive midfielders. One slightly forward of the other two. And give Dyche and Doucoure their due – it worked.

Got to hand it to 'Forever' Young: 90 minutes of that and he handled it expertly. Have to also give Mykolenko a big shout. For all his limitations, he kept Saka shackled really well.

Result. Funny old game…

I never thought we'd get anything today. Well done to Sean Dyche and all the team.

Fantastic to get a point. No idea what the game was like – my inaccurate predictions continue… and Fulham got a point too.

Two clean sheets on the trot.

Proud!

They made Arsenal look poor.

Doucoure just looked on the wrong side as he got on to that Mangala pass. He can't pass so had to take extra time to place the shot.

Some excellent performances but my best on ground would be Pickford.

Worst on the pitch would be Pawson, as I felt he was very biased in Arsenal's favour, overall.

God job done by Dyche, too!

But, most of all, it was a great team effort.

I think he will pose a problem for Sean Dyche if we continue to play with one up front, Calvert-Lewin style, as I think that is not his strength to challenge for the high ball, bring it under control and bring others into the game.

He is going to want balls to chase and through-balls to run onto. Then, I think he can use his body, strength and speed. Hopefully, we will see how he puts the ball in the net.

For those reasons, I think Calvert-Lewin will continue to play the lone target man. Against teams where we have more possession etc, maybe Broja can play out wide so that we get both of them working together. However, that will need a Dyche mindset change or a different manager.

Furthermore, Michael Keane was having a fine run of form before Branthwaite returned and frankly Branthwaite's performances since have been littered with errors which could easily have cost us games. In the light of which, Keane can justifiably feel badly done to.

My heart bleeds for Calvert-Lewin. He must have the toughest job in football. I'd love to see him assisted by Broja up front. Somewhere along the line, Dyche needs to take the attacking initiative and throw caution to the wind. Attack often proves to be the best form of defence.

For long periods today, it felt like only a matter of time before Arsenal scored. Thankfully Pickford's heroics prevented that.

Great defensive display, from what I have managed to see, and Pickford back to his best.

Young is always going to be professional, especially when the focus is on a job to be done. Agree with you regarding Harrison and Doucoure. I think that Braithwaite is not fully fit. He is being played for the January shop window..

Calvert-Lewin will be selected by Dyche every time and does the job required. Dyche has given up on a scorer and favours a team of scorers. There is no support for an attacking Calvert-Lewin, even at his level of play. This Dyche idea was badly let down by Doucoure fluffing his chance. He just looked on his approach that he was not going to score.

Dyche has got badly burnt showing attacking initiative. He just can't do it. The only way Everton will score under Dyche is from a set piece, which they don't seem to practise, or from the ball breaking to an attacking player and him getting the right connection.

Broja running onto a through-ball looks a possibility but, being a sub later in the game, he is not going to get many chances like that.

The only chance is that the Gueye - Managla partnership develops and Lindstrøm adds as part of a midfield trio, something that Doucoure is not capable of. Only then will proper attacking support play exist.

If this squad can find a knack for taking the chances they make, we would all sleep easier!

But a massive boost ahead of Chelsea next week!

The lads stayed connected in following Dyche's game plan, which in this case was the right plan for the occasion: thwart, frustrate and absorb the probing, attacking, patient play that was expected from the first whistle of the ref to the last.

The viewing was never going to be nice, and after watching the game on rerun, the defensive force which Everton were on the day was not only commendable by all concerned, players and manager, but deserving of some reward.

It came in the form of a point, a well- and hard-earned point, let it be said, that keeps us going in the right direction. Keep it up, Blues – there's pride in there somewhere fighting to get out. COYB.

I've seen other comments berating the ‘not having a go, pack the defence' tactics but yesterday it was okay for me.

15 points from 15 games with the fixtures we've had is bang on average at best, or even slightly below. But it's a long slog, and whatever happens in January will probably define our season.

But the feeling after yesterday, and without the Premier League points deduction nonsense of last season, was some satisfaction when looking at the table.

Something similar over the next 2 games will be useful, then Forest and Bournemouth where we really need to pick up a win to preserve the gap. The fight is there, but the goals aren't… so it remains a worry.

At Agincourt, a handful of Welsh longbowmen, bad guts with diarrhoea flowing down their legs, dug in behind their defences. Vastly outnumbered, did they take the fight to the highly fancied Dauphin's men? Did they buggery as they would have been cut to pieces by the Fancy Dan's in the French line-up. And what a result!

Suffering a touch of flu. May have been over-medicating. Apologies.

Funny, not one Welshman in the Everton team, still, a result worthy of Agincourt.

In isolation, it's a great point away to a top side and another really good clean sheet.

In the wider picture, it's an 8th game this season where we've failed to get on the score sheet and failed to barely register a shot.

It's still just 3 wins, a week away from Christmas; again, it's really poor – there's no getting away from that.

The work ethic is there and has been there all season but Dyche must let the shackles off at some point.

I know it's much a case of just sitting it out, allow the takeover to happen, and hopefully the new owners are genuinely seriously businessmen and more importantly good at making football-related decisions.

Let's get another positive result against Chelsea next Sunday… fingers crossed!

Credit to the manager and players who keep battling in these extraordinary circumstances with a great point at title challengers, Arsenal.

The flame of hope remains – we live.

Unless and until we can start to spend some proper money on attacking players, then we'll have many more of these performances against the better sides.

We are in competition with the bottom half of the Premier League and it is those matches where we need to see an attacking mentality.

(a) Near the bottom of their league;
(b) Got a 0-0 draw at Arsenal recently, playing defensive football;
(c) Surprisingly beat Manchester City today against all the odds.

Must mean that we will beat City at Christmas???

Obdurate or Stubborn, whichever is used, the team performed really well against top class opponents and limited them to tiny morsels of chances which an outstanding Pickford dealt with confidently.

A game where defence was always going to be pivotal and where with a bit more urgency by Doucoure we could have secured maximum points.

Well done to the whole team and also in this case to the manager.

We are yet to buy a house but will be in Gowrie Park near Mount Roland from Christmas Day for the next few months. In Norwood, Launceston until then.

Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho.