Curses are there to be broken

Sean Dyche’s Everton tenure officially came to an end on January 9, hours before the Toffees took on Peterborough United in the FA Cup.

But, the writing had been on the wall since five days previous, when Everton had slumped to a miserable, 1-0 defeat at the Vitality Stadium — David Brooks’ volley sealing the points for Bournemouth and putting Dyche on the brink.

Not that Dyche was the first Everton manager who could look at the Vitality Stadium as where it all, really, unravelled.

From Bournemouth’s first season in the Premier League in 2015-16, several different vintages of Everton teams — some good, some bad — had failed to win at the tightly packed, 12,000-capacity stadium on the south coast.

It was a place where Everton would manage to find a way not to win. 

In November 2015, Everton went 2-0 up, only to get pegged back to 2-2. But Ross Barkley put the Toffees back ahead in the 95th minute. Yet the ensuing celebrations in the away end, as the players dived into the crowd, meant more time was added on. Junior Stanislas scored three minutes later. It finished 3-3.

In hindsight, that was probably the moment Roberto Martinez’s tenure began to fall apart, even if it would take until May for the Spaniard to depart.

Everton did beat Bournemouth away in the FA Cup later that season, but the curse remained in place in the Premier League.

Frank Lampard’s Everton reign should probably have ended after two defeats in the space of a few days at Bournemouth in November 2022 — in the League Cup and top flight respectively — yet the club’s board held on. Lampard was dismissed in January, with Everton having allowed a six-week break for the World Cup to go to waste.

Then, there was Dyche. His first trip to Bournemouth as an Everton manager saw his team fight back from 1-0 down through Beto late on, only for Seamus Coleman to then bundle in a last-gasp own goal. 

It seemed the misfortune had even then travelled north, to Goodison Park, where Everton threw away a 2-0 lead in August 2024 to lose 3-2 to the Cherries. A few months later, Bournemouth’s fans were chanting “How do you watch this every week” to their Everton counterparts as Dyche’s time came to an end.

But the thing is, curses are there to be broken. At some point, the story has to change.

On Tuesday, the story changed.

Jack Grealish’s deflected strike sealed a hard-fought, well-deserved 1-0 win. Everton, short-handed due to injuries and suspensions, weren’t incredible by any means, but they kept a Bournemouth team that are certainly not short of goals down to just two attempts on target, and just five overall.

The travelling Toffees finally had their moment at the Vitality. Even as Bournemouth pushed for a late leveller, this Everton team showed the kind of composure and defensive grit they did just over a week ago, when they also ended their long wait for a win at Old Trafford.

That is now two grounds, in the space of eight days, that Everton have claimed victories at where they just don’t ever seem to do so. The only time in recent memory that they have managed to do something similar was in the behind-closed-doors 2020-21 season, when Everton won at Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal, with the likes of Lucas Digne, Richarlison, James Rodriguez and a hugely in-form Dominic Calvert-Lewin playing under Carlo Ancelotti.

Everton have won six league games this season, and three of those victories have come on the road, and two of them in extremely difficult circumstances.

Since Moyes took over from Dyche, Everton have now won eight away games, which no team can better at the time of writing. Since the Scot’s first away game back in charge, only Arsenal (30) have taken more Premier League points on the road than Everton (27).

Everton were soundly hammered by Newcastle United on Saturday. They needed a response — Moyes and Co. certainly delivered. The Toffees’ form at their new, waterfront home has started to wobble, with two defeats in the last three and seven goals conceded across those losses, so picking up points on the road is vital to keep the pressure from building.

Dyche returns with his Nottingham Forest team on Saturday, and there will be pressure on that match, given the nature of his departure and how frayed his relationship with parts of the fanbase had become. 

But away from Hill Dickinson Stadium, Everton are proving they are no pushovers. A trip to Stamford Bridge, where they have not won in the league since 1994, comes up on December 13. Why not go and break another curse?

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