Huddersfield put in a commanding performance at Goodison Park to come away with their second point of the 2018/19 Premier League season.
In the early stages of the game Huddersfield enjoyed a decent spell of possession controlling the rhythm in the opening moments.
11 minutes in and the first attacking attempt came from Town, a combination of Van Laparra and Lowe down the left ultimately lead to nothing, but it increased the volume of the ever enthusiastic away fans.
The first meaningful home attack followed soon, Welsh youngster Tom Davies found Seamus Coleman close to the 18 yard box, whose effort was underwhelming and easy for Huddersfield keeper Lossl.
The game had managed to pick up some momentum after a rather lacklustre first 10 minutes, and 19 minutes in the home crowd felt they’d been robbed of a penalty. Walcott sent in a whipping cross which evaded the strike force, however it appeared Tosun was held by the hand of Zanka as the ball came in; Stuart Atwell was having none of it.
Despite the early contentious decision, Huddersfield nicked the first goal of the game and their first of the season. 34 minutes played and Danish midfielder Billing headed in from 6 yards out following a corner. A familiar issue for the Blues, conceding from set pieces; the fourth from a set piece they’ve let in already this season.
And before the home fans had finished complaining, they were level. 86 seconds later and Dominic Calvert Lewin had the ball in the net for Everton. A great cross in from the new man, Lucas Digne, found Calvert Lewin completely unmarked in the box and his effort was too much for Lossl, who clawed it into the corner of the net. The goal was Calvert Lewin’s third goal of the week, following their cup victory against Rotherham.
The second half consisted of a lack of quality and finesse, contrasting the end of a thrilling first half.
There were many missed chances that the home team should of converted, but they failed to gain any advantage. An Everton free kick left three blue shirts free in the Town box before Zouma shined it wide of the post early in the second half.
Moments later a dangerous Lookman cross flashed across the face of the Huddersfield goal, and narrowly avoided the stretching Tosun, who arrived late at the far post.
As the second half continued and the final whistle loomed, the home fans frustration was clear, urging their team to press the red and backs. However the continued attacking nature of Everton was met by a sea of Huddersfield shirts, who cancelled out any attacking threat with their resilient midfield five.
Everton’s best chances came from Lookman and Calvert Lewin, who managed to keep finding little pockets of space, and created some half chances. But the energetic Mooy came away time and time again with the ball, as he tidied up the midfield for Huddersfield. As the time went on the stalemate draw loomed over an unimpressed home crowd.
As the referee blew for full time, a chorus of boos rang out around Goodison Park. The Town players celebrated and the boos quickly ebbed away to be replaced by the lively travelling crowd, who were jubilant in appreciating their second point of the season, and a hard fought point too.
Everton remain unbeaten
Under new manager Marco Silva, Everton look be be the real deal. However frustrating this result is for his side today, they are still yet to lose. This being said, the new signings have come into play and they look like great additions, Lucas Dinge, who created the goal this afternoon being one of those, whilst Kurt Zouma also put in a respectable performance. Still yet to prove themselves are Andre Gomes and Yerry Mina, the Barcelona duo are highly thought of, and if implemented well into the team, they could further bolster the quality of the Blues. .
Huddersfield must consolidate
The Terriers will be delighted with this result. It was a hard fought point against a difficult away team, but at no point did Everton dominate the game. In fact in the second half Town did very well to restrain the Blues threat and had the best of the stats to reflect that. Everton’s only shot on target was the goal, whereas Town had nine in total. Many of these were not too threatening in a game where neither side had very many clear cut chances. But after starting poorly, this is a perfect result to get them going for the season.
Marco Silva’s growing injury list
With a seemingly endless injury list, the international break comes at a good time for the Toffees. Big names such as Micheal Keane, Phil Jagielka and Idrissa Gueye all are sidelined with injury presently, and now added is Theo Walcott after an issue with his ribs forced him to be substituted before the hour mark this afternoon. Marco Silva will be hoping that the week of no domestic football will be enough for some off his players to return to first team football in time for their home clash against West Ham.
