Paul Wilson was at Turf Moor. Here’s his report. You know what to do. Clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM.
Carlo Ancelotti’s take. “We were quite good after a difficult start ... we changed the shape, it was not easy ... it’s a draw that helps us move a little bit up the table ... of course we wanted to win and had opportunities ... one at the end ... we have to accept the result ... mentally we suffered after the goal but we came back and at the end we played a good game ... we were more comfortable with three midfielders ... Jordan is back ... he has a lot of quality ... for him it’s important to stay mentally in good condition, fit and motivated ... it was a difficult game for Dominic Calvert-Lewin but when it came he was ready ... I think we played quite good ... we wanted to win but a point is acceptable.”
Sean Dyche, 200 up, makes a couple of trenchant observations. “An important reaction from last week ... a really good reaction, we took the game on against a really good side, I know they’ve had a tough spell but they’re a good side without doubt ... our basic requirement of how we work is the will and desire to work as a unit from a shape, but then try to be effective with the ball, and I thought we found a good balance ... but it ends up a game of two keepers, they were outstanding ... I don’t know what a foul any more, Westy gets an arm in the back and a soft touch on his foot, he goes down but it’s not a foul ... we all know they get given every week ... this league now, you make contact with someone it gets given virtually every time ... today it doesn’t and they counter and score so I was certainly aggrieved ... money’s always been difficult to get from the board and chairman because they want to safeguard the club ... but there’s only so many years you can safeguard ... eventually you have to stretch and we haven’t done that ... but our group can be effective ... I can’t sign the cheques, so I try to manage the things I can affect.”
Robbie Brady speaks to BT Sport: “We had some chances ... we could have put it away ... we’ll take a point today ... I felt we performed well, it was a bit more like us ... we know we have it in us, we’ll stick at it and hopefully there are more wins to come ... it was nice to get on the scoresheet but it was disappointing to concede ... we possibly could have nicked it, but a point we’ll take.”
The keepers are the only players who seem content as everyone hotfoots it back to the warmth of the dressing rooms. Nick Pope made a fine save from Gylfi Sigurdsson in injury time, while Jordan Pickford met a Chris Wood header with some style late on. They’re both smiling, but pretty much everyone else has a face on. One point’s better than nothing, but it doesn’t really help much. Everton rise to seventh, on 17 points. Burnley stay in 19th, but join West Brom on six points. Still, it was an entertaining game.
FULL TIME: Burnley 1-1 Everton
This seems about right.
90 min +2: Burnley bustle down the right. Wood, Barnes and Keane tumble in the Keystone Kops style, the ball breaking clear for McNeil, 25 yards out! McNeil sorts out his feet ... then pulls a dismal effort miles wide right. That was a fine chance to sneak all three points. Oh dear.
90 min +1: Just as the clock ticks past the 90-minute mark, James Rodriguez improvises a delicate toe-poked pass down the middle to release Sigurdsson into the box. Sigurdsson is one on one with Pope! He looks for the bottom-left corner, but Pope sticks a leg out to block. What a pass ... and what a save!
90 min: Keane takes a whack from Tarkowski, and the whistle goes. Corner successfully defended. There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Barnes busies himself to the right of the Everton goal, latching onto a deep right-wing cross. Mina is forced to hook his leg around Barnes and poke out for a corner.
88 min: Benson fires a cross in from the right. Mina clears. Cenk Tosun comes on for Allan.
87 min: Ashley Barnes hasn’t scored since November 23 last year. That would make some story, too.
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86 min: Burnley’s goalscorer Robbie Brady goes down injured, and is quickly replaced by Josh Benson, who is celebrating his 21st birthday today. Some headlines ready to be written here?
85 min: Both sides have given this a good go, even if the quality has been lacking a little bit. Can anyone nick it?
83 min: Corner for Burnley out on the right. McNeil swings it in. Wood rises highest and heads towards the bottom left. Pickford extends himself and tips around the post. A sensational save! Nothing comes of the second corner.
82 min: Calvert-Lewin scampers into space down the left, released by a cute Richarlison flick. He enters the box and tries to poke past the out-rushing Pope, but the keeper smothers brilliantly. Calvert-Lewin cocks his head back, a Pez dispenser of despair.
81 min: Everton make a proactive substitution: Doucoure is replaced by Sigurdsson.
80 min: Everton break quickly from Burnley’s corner. Gomes tries to curl into the top left, but it’s always going high and wide.
79 min: Nothing comes of that corner, but Burnley come again quickly, Barnes besting Godfrey out on the right and crossing low for Wood, hovering at the near post. Mina makes a crucial lunge to turn out for another corner.
78 min: Westwood swings the free kick into the mixer. The ball breaks to Brownhill, who has enough time to bring the ball down and shift his feet, but his shot is blocked out by Godfrey. Corner.
77 min: Taylor goes barrelling down the left and draws a clumsy foul from Doucoure. A chance for the hosts to load the box. Those Burnley eyes light up again.
75 min: Burnley make their first change: Ashley Barnes comes on for Jay Rodriguez.
74 min: Everton probe to no great effect.
72 min: Wood landed awkwardly on his shoulders, and for a minute there’s some concern that he’s hurt his neck. But happily he’s up and about after a thorough check by the physio, and good to continue.
70 min: Iwobi reaches the byline on the right and fires low and hard into the six-yard box. A minor brouhaha breaks out, and Mee eventually clears. Burnley attempt to break, but Wood lands awkwardly after accidentally flipping over Gomes as the pair contest a high ball. Play is stopped so the Burnley man can get some treatment.
69 min: Richarlison wedges in from the left. James Rodriguez shapes to volley, but Mee heads the dropping ball away from his dangerous boot.
67 min: The corner’s worked back to Brady, who takes a skelp from 25 yards. Allan blocks bravely.
66 min: McNeil looks as though he’s running down a cul-de-sac out left, but suddenly flicks infield between Allan and Iwobi. He’s away! Lovely skill. But his cross isn’t all that, and he has to settle for a corner.
64 min: A lovely bit of Zizou-style skill from Gomes, who falls under pressure from Westwood but somehow keeps the ball stuck to his boot, springs up, and scuttles away. His trick opens up a bit of space for James Rodriguez, who slips Iwobi into acres down the right. Iwobi wallops a low cross along the corridor of uncertainty, but Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison are nowhere to be found.
62 min: Burnley’s final pass isn’t all that, either. They probe down both flanks, opening up a bit of space but freezing when there’s a decision to be made. Taylor and Brady at fault this time. Everton hold their shape and there’s no way through.
60 min: Richarlison drives down the left and rolls infield, hoping to find Calvert-Lewin. Brownhill intercepts, but slices wildly, the ball looping behind him and nearly dropping over Pope and into the net. The ball just about clears the bar for a corner. Nothing happens at the set piece.
58 min: Taylor ships possession cheaply in the centre circle. Everton flood forward. James Rodriguez shapes to shoot, then flicks towards Richarlison on the left. Lowton reads a poor pass and heads clear. Everton’s final ball has, for the most part, been dismally lacking.
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56 min: Pickford flaps at the corner, under pressure from Brownhill. Under too much pressure, it transpires, and the whistle goes for a free kick.
55 min: Brady comes bowling down the right and wins a corner off Godfrey. A few Burnley eyes light up.
54 min: Everton threaten to launch a couple of dangerous counter-attacks, but with Burnley light at the back and plenty of yellow shirts offering themselves, James Rodriguez and then Gomes pass straight to the opposition.
52 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
51 min: A little time and space is afforded to James Rodriguez on the edge of the Burnley D. Really bad idea. James opens his body and curls towards the top left. Pope makes an excellent fingertip save. So close to a stunning goal by Everton’s star man.
50 min: Brady and Lowton combine well on the right touchline, nearly opening Everton up. Not this time, but a nifty interchange nonetheless.
48 min: Brady hoicks into the box from the right. Keane does well to head clear under pressure from Wood and Jay Rodriguez. Both teams have had a talking-to during the break, I’ll be bound.
46 min: Everton are immediately on the front foot. Iwobi curls in from the right. Calvert-Lewin can’t connect. Richarlison bashes a shot into the ground. The ball breaks to Gomes, who batters a shot goalwards from 12 yards. Lawton bravely spreads himself and blocks with his back. The flag eventually goes up for offside, but what an opening to the second half!
Everton get the second half underway. No half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Burnley 1-1 Everton
That equaliser had been coming, and it arrived just in the nick of time from Everton’s perspective. Sean Dyche strides off briskly and purposefully, with the brooding air of a man who is about to turn the hairdryer up to 11.
GOAL! Burnley 1-1 Everton (Calvert-Lewin 45+3)
Allan wins the ball off Westwood and rolls down the left for Richarlison, who whips into the centre. Calvert-Lewin comes in at full tilt, extending a leg and studding into the bottom right!
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45 min +2: Brownhill is back on after a brief dab down with a wet sponge.
45 min +1: The first of three added minutes goes by without incident.
45 min: VAR isn’t interested. There didn’t appear to be any intention, Gomes turning to protect himself as he came together with Brownhill.
44 min: Brownhill goes down after a clash with Gomes. No free kick, even though he took an elbow on the jaw. The referee eventually stops play and VAR is going to take a look.
42 min: James Rodriguez swishes a wonderful reverse ball down the left to release Gomes into acres. Gomes fizzes the ball into the six-yard box. Tarkowski does well to hack clear with yellow shirts preparing to swarm. The flag eventually goes up for offside. Everton look so much better since their enforced change of shape.
41 min: A long Pope clearance down the middle. Wood brings it down, lays off to McNeil, and spins. McNeil returns the ball, releasing Wood into the box. Pickford comes out to block brilliantly. A big chance for Burnley there, somewhat against the run of play.
40 min: Richarlison crosses from the left. Tarkowski flicks away from Calvert-Lewin at the expense of a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.
39 min: Pickford punches Westwood’s corner away with great feeling. Everton attempt to launch a counter but James Rodriguez plays an uncharacteristically poor speculative pass forward.
38 min: McNeil crosses deep from the left. Keane eyebrows away just in time, with Tarkowski winding his neck back nearby. Corner kick.
36 min: Richarlison sashays down the left and pearls a shot well wide of goal. “I don’t know whether I’m too unsophisticated to understand, but I think Everton just need to make more tackles,” writes Everton’s Gary Naylor. “And that puts a lot of stress on Doucouré and Allan because not many others seem keen.” Picking Marco Silva over a certain Sean Dyche, a sliding-doors moment right there.
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34 min: Iwobi crosses from a deep position on the right. Calvert-Lewin flicks on elegantly for Richarlison, but the Brazilian is miles offside and the flag goes up. Everton are showing signs of flickering into life.
32 min: Iwobi makes good down the right and nearly finds Calvert-Lewin in the middle with a clever diagonal pass, threaded between two players. Just a little too much on it. Iwobi’s looked lively.
31 min: Doucoure makes a positive burst down the middle and slips a pass down the inside-left channel for Calvert-Lewin. He could have a first-time shot but instead takes a couple of steps and wins a corner off Mee. Nothing comes of the set piece. Much better from Everton, though.
29 min: It takes a disconsolate Delph some time to limp off. Another spell in the treatment room for the poor chap. Andre Gomes comes on to take his place.
27 min: Delph accelerates down the left wing and immediately pulls up, clutching the back of his leg. There goes his hamstring. He hobbles off in an extremely downcast manner.
25 min: A period of Everton possession comes to naught. The hosts continue to look comfortable.
23 min: Brady tries to release Wood down the middle. The pass is too heavy. A huge gap in the middle of the Everton defence, though. The visitors don’t seem particularly comfortable with their gameplan.
22 min: Brownhill has a dig from 25 yards. It’s always flying wide left. Doucoure let him slip by with ease, though. Everton’s midfield need to sharpen up quicksmart.
20 min: Doucoure gifts the ball to Brownhill, who drives down the inside-left. His pass forward, intended to release Wood, is too strong and claimed by Pickford. Doucoure and Allan haven’t been on it in the Everton midfield at all.
18 min: Richarlison spins away from Lowton down the left. Calvert-Lewin is in the middle, but arriving a little too late, so Richarlison takes on a shot from a tight angle instead. Pope claims.
17 min: Burnley ping it around the midfield for a while. They’re playing with confidence. They certainly don’t look like a relegation-haunted outfit right now.
15 min: Lowton again looks for Wood, this time down the left. Wood briefly threatens to take control and bust into the box, but doesn’t quite manage it.
14 min: James Rodriguez rolls a ball down the right channel for Iwobi, who replicates his low cross of a minute ago. Nobody in yellow is at the near post, and Pope can smother. There’s no way this is going to end 1-0. But who scores next?
13 min: Everton finally bare their teeth. Iwobi whips in low from the right. Calvert-Lewin sticks a leg out at the near post. Pope blocks unconventionally with both shins. The ball’s hacked clear. This is an entertaining game.
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12 min: But you can see why. Lowton intercepts a Pickford throw-out and barges his way down the right. He whips low, hoping to find Jay Rodriguez in the middle. Godfrey does extremely well to block and bundle clear.
11 min: Lowton down the right for Wood. Mina covers, Pickford clears. This is getting old.
9 min: Lowton pings a ball down the right for Wood. Pickford is forced to race out of his box to blooter clear, with Keane and Mina nowhere. Burnley have clearly decided this flank is ripe for the picking.
7 min: James Rodriguez, just to the side of the D, takes a whack. His effort is blocked, but he was allowed too much space there. Burnley will have to watch that.
6 min: Burnley now have something to defend. This is going to be a test for Everton. Though the home team aren’t sitting back; Brady pearls a pass down the right and nearly releases Wood, but Pickford is out to the edge of his box to claim.
4 min: On the touchline, a frowning Carlo Ancelotti chews gum with great vigour. Not sure this is breaking news, but there it is.
GOAL! Burnley 1-0 Everton (Brady 3)
Well, you can scrub that! Allan and Doucoure faff about in the midfield and the ball rolls to Brady, who takes a touch, uses Keane as a shield, and whistles a low drive into the bottom left, Pickford unable to extend an arm far enough to do anything about it. What a start!
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2 min: A fairly nondescript start to the match.
Burnley get the ball rolling on a chilly day in Lancashire ... but only after everyone takes a knee. No room for racism.
The teams are out! Burnley are in their lovely traditional claret and blue, while Everton reference their appearance in the 1968 FA Cup final with a gorgeous yellow change shirt. As Miles Davis would say, everyone is looking cleaner than a [12-letter word redacted by Family Website editor]. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes! “This is a must win for Everton in this topsy-turvy season,” writes Mary Waltz. “Was our fast start a mirage or is this year different from our typical mid-table mediocrity? On pins and needles.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s turn. “We need more confidence, more consistency, more balance. The last two games we have improved, but it would be a good signal today to have a good performance, play well and have points. I had some good ideas in training and it worked well, but the test is today. It will be tough against a strong team with good organisation.”
Sean Dyche, taking charge of Burnley in the Premier League for the 200th time today, speaks to BT Sport. “The way the game’s changed, for British managers, achieving things in the Premier League, or being in the Premier League, is a task, and a tough one at that. We’ve earned our way into it, and kept in there with good planning and good preparation and lots of hard work - not just by myself, I have a really good staff and group of players. Our injury list is getting better and stronger, that’s been affecting us of course. We’ve got to get back to performances like Palace, when we were on the front foot early in the game and defended resolutely.”
Burnley make three changes to the side spanked at the Etihad last week. Nick Pope, Josh Brownhill and Robbie Brady come in for Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Josh Benson and Ashley Barnes.
Two changes for Everton from the side that lost at home to Leeds. Yerry Mina and Fabian Delph replace Mason Holgate and Tom Davies.
The teams
Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Brady, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Wood, Rodriguez.
Subs: Barnes, Peacock-Farrell, Pieters, Vydra, Long, Dunne, Benson.
Everton: Pickford, Godfrey, Mina, Keane, Iwobi, Doucoure, Allan, Delph, Rodriguez, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison.
Subs: Holgate, Sigurdsson, Tosun, Bernard, Andre Gomes, Davies, Lossl.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
Preamble
Everton’s seven-game winning sequence at the start of the season seems a long time ago now. Since then, they’ve played six matches, all in the Premier League, losing four, drawing one and winning another, and they made hard work of that against struggling Fulham.
On the face of it, a visit to second-from-bottom Burnley looks an ideal opportunity to regain some of that lost momentum. Especially as Sean Dyche - 200 Premier League games up today! - is presiding over a side who have lost six of their opening nine, have only scored two goals in their last eight, and were battered 5-0 at Manchester City last weekend.
But it’s hardly fair to judge a team on a performance away at City. Before that, they’d drawn at Brighton and picked up their first three-pointer of the season at home to Crystal Palace. Signs that the Burnley of old was beginning to rouse from its slumber. Additionally, Everton don’t usually fancy it at Turf Moor, having lost four of their last six league matches there, and failed to keep a clean sheet on their last 22 visits, a run stretching back to 1958. 1958!
Perhaps more relevant: Burnley won this fixture 1-0 last year, while Everton smashed it 5-1 the year before, an exception that very much shatters the rule. So good luck calling this one correctly, though with both teams desperate for the statement victory that’d get their season back on track, this could be great fun. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
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