Young own-goal gives Brighton deserved point at Goodison
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford reacts following the Premier League match at Goodison Park. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.
Roberto De Zerbi, the Brighton head coach, has said many times this season that his side has encountered problems in facing three matches per week after qualifying for the Europa League. This match proved his point, but in reverse.
His team had enjoyed a rare week with no midweek engagement and grew stronger after going behind during a sluggish start, while Everton, who had faced Burnley in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, visibly tired as the match wore on, conceded a freak leveller and were probably happier to hear the final whistle.
The home side went ahead through Vitalii Mykolenko’s second goal for the club, but an unfortunate own goal off Ashley Young six minutes from time gave Brighton a deserved share of the points. They have now gone five Premier League matches without a win and have still yet to record a clean sheet in the competition this season but deserve credit for sticking to their passing beliefs as time began to run short.
For Everton, it was another match in which they showed steady, if not spectacular, improvement – Brighton had won on their two previous visits to Goodison Park.
Brighton had begun with a two-minute spell of possession, but as soon as they got the ball, Everton forced a save from Bart Verbruggen through Abdoulaye Doucoure. But the goalkeeper could do nothing after seven minutes when Dwight McNeil’s cross reached the unmarked Mykolenko, who was allowed two stabs at the ball before his right foot shot into the turf went in off Lewis Dunk.
It was the fourth successive away game in which Brighton had let in the first goal but they thought they had continued their record of scoring and conceding in every game seven minutes later. Dunk volleyed in off the crossbar after a free kick from Pascal Gross, but VAR Michael Oliver ruled that the Brighton captain had been offside, although replays suggested otherwise.
That, though, was Brighton’s only serious attempt at goal for the remainder of the first half despite their domination of the ball, with 83 percent of possession. Most of their passing was in areas that did not threaten the home side, who were happy to drop back and fill any spaces. Ireland striker Evan Ferguson was starved of both service and support.
A sixth Everton victory in eight matches looked very much on the cards, but Brighton upped their tempo after the break and played with far more conviction. Jordan Pickford saved well from Dunk’s free kick after Doucoure's desperate foul on Kaoru Mitoma and Pascal Gross shot over after Mitoma had skinned Young.
Dwight McNeil’s shot past the post after 75 minutes was Everton’s first effort at goal of the second half, but it did not herald any sort of awakening from their second-half torpor. At the other end, Mitoma was beginning to do as he liked down Brighton’s left and after 84 minutes, he bamboozled Jack Harrison before his cross flicked off Young’s thigh and ballooned over Pickford and in.
Pickford 7; Young 6, Branthwaite 6, Tarkowski 6, Mykolenko 7; Garner 6, Gueye 5; Harrison 5, Doucoure 6, McNeil 6; Calvert-Lewin 7 (Beto 90).
Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Danjuma, Godfrey, Chermiti, Lonergan, Dobbin.
Booked: Gueye, Doucoure, Branthwaite, Tarkowski.
Verbruggen 7: Veltman 6, Van Hecke 7, Dunk 7, Milner 7 (Buonanotte 79); Gilmour 6 (Dahoud 67), Gross 6; Adingra 4 (Julio 89), Lallana 5 (Joao Pedro ht, 5), Mitoma 7; Ferguson 5 (Fati 67, 6).
Steele, Webster, Baleba, Hinshelwood.
Booked: Dunk, Gilmour.
Tim Robinson.
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