Blues battle to stalemate with Arsenal

Darron Gibson made his long-awaited return to Everton's midfield but Kevin Mirallas missed out again with a hamstring injury.

John Heitinga, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Bryan Oviedo dropped to the bench to make way for returning trio Gibson, Tony Hibbert and Marouane Fellaini.

Everton relinquished possession from the kick-off and relinquished any sense of discipline or structure as Arsenal skipped forward, Ramsey and Walcott exchanging passes on the Everton right, where Hibbert was AWOL, Walcott scooping the ball with ease over Howard and into the far corner with less than 2 mins under the Goodison lights. Astounding incompetence from Everton!

Koscielny was an early casualty, pulling a hamstring overstretching for a ball at the back. He as replaced by Gibbs. Everton pushed and probe as they tried to settle after the early shock, and made some good approach play. A dangerous free-kick curled in by Baines was easily defended away.

From Everton's first corner, Baines swung one in very deep to Fellaini but his ground header was straight at the keeper. Everton were getting some good possession building toward the Arsenal area but not really getting much further, and a period of Arsenal dominance followed.

Naismith was blatantly held back by Gibbs and rightly booked. Some great passing led to the second corner, again deep but headed away. Sanga went down claiming contact from Osman in a threatening position, Vermaelen driving it through the wall at Howard.

Pienaar made a great interception but his ball for Jelavic looked to be the end of the move. However, hhe did it again on the Arsenal clearance, the ball careening acorss to Fellaini, we steady himself ofn the edge of the area and cureld it bueytifully around Vermaelen and Szczesny into the corner of the Arsenal net. 1 - 1!

A late tackle from Gibson on Walcott led to him getting a yellow card. Arsenal won a couple of corners, both defended away, as the game looked fairly even, if a little stop-start. Everton needed defend solidly, but on the breakout, Jelavic almost got ahead of Sagna, who gave up a corner, which was again repelled.

Jelavic did a lovely chest-down and turn to beat Mertesacker but then leaning back, lashed over, when he really should have done better. Fellaini pulled back Corzola rather cynically as the contest neared half-time, Jelavic breaking well but form an offside position. Corzola looked to make space but his strike curled a long way from the Everton goal. Arsenal won a late corner in added time but it was defended away.

Good interplay between Baines and Pienaar that saw the South African power a shot goalwards after the break, and Everton's approach play continued to show signs of promise, with Jelavic switching to wingman and provider for Naismith, who could not get his foot to a glorious chance ahead of the full-back.

Pienaar was looking a lot sharper, and from a corner, Distin got a good look at the whites of Szczesny's eyes off a deep ball in from Baines that the Arsenal keeper parried away with an instant reaction save.

More superb work by Pienaar saw Fellaini denied a certain header as Szczesny took the ball off his head, but Everton kept pressing, although Fellaini's ground shot at Szczesny lacked invention. Moyes acted on the hour, swapping Naismith for Oviedo, an interesting move given the player's last outing.

Pienaar appeared to be tackled from behind as he advanced on goal. surely a penalty, but the ref bottled it, giving a corner. Everton were giving it their best, but the crucial chances, as ever, were not turning into goals, while at the other end, Giroud came mighty close with a header that flew inches past the post.

Howard looked lost, scrambling a loose ball behind for a corner but came out well to punch at the next attempt as the momentum swung back Arsenal's way... Moyes reacting by swapping in Hitzlsperger for the tiring Gibson. Corzola had a poke at one end, then Hitzlsperger at the other, both keepers doing their jobs effectively, as the game was end to end, each side keen to score the winner.

Arteta caught Fellaini to give away a really promising free-kick that Jelavic rather casually spooned in toward the top corner, too slow and too obvious to beat Szczesny — why no Hitzlsperger Hammer?

Into the last 10 minutes, Wenger swapping Ramsey for Gervinho as another Baines corner was defended away, with the tension reaching breaking point as the game continued from end to end, although a Jags hoofball not really the preferred method!

Oviedo was a firecracker going forward abut Hibbert's cross was a total waste as the game rested on a knifeedge until it was Fellaini's turn to 'do a Naismith' and spoon his cross shockingly under zero pressure. Then the Hammer's turn finally came and his shot was utterly woeful as he got right underneath it.

More great work set up a brilliant chance, but the ball from Jelavic was just too far ahead of Fellaini as it really looked more and more like Everton would not score the winner, even if it was handed to them on a plate. Meanwhile, hearts in mouths each time Arsenal went forward as the game went into 3 mins of added time.

Chances continued at either end, Arsenal finishing a little stronger after another great chance for Jealvic went begging, and it was a poor chiice from Pienaar at the end.

A very good game and a crucial litmus test of Everton's real quality... which came up short in the end against inferior competition yet again. Two more important home points lost.

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka (c), Distin, Baines; Naismith (62' Oviedo Y:70'), Gibson Y:28' (73' Hitzlsperger), Osman, Pienaar; Fellaini; Jelavic.
Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen (c), Koscielny (4' Gibbs Y:21'), Arteta, Wilshere, Giroud, Walcott, Ramsey (80' Gervinho), Cazorla.

Below-par Blues drop more vital points

A must-win game following last weekend's stumble at Reading. Fellaini is suspended, Neville and Anichebe out injured, Hibbert is on the bench and Coleman is missing (injured, apparently) but Distin returned with Jagielka moved out to right back while neither Mirallas nor Gibson were included despite suggestions they would be returning from injury. Bryan Oviedo was given his first league start, mostly playing in front of Baines on the left.

Everton were attacking John Ruddy's goal from the off and there was almost an early goal from Osman, who tried to fire in a loose ball picked up for him by Naismith, curling it just inches wide of the far post. Pienaar bashed his knee challenging for the ball inside 5 minutes, giving concern of yet another injury for David Moyes to deal with.

Jagielka put in a very smart cross from nothing that Jelavic didn't seem to jump for and the chance went begging. Hitzlsperger floated a good ball forward that Ovideo did brilliantly with controlling it perfectly and placing it back on a plate for Naismith who smashed it home for a nice early goal after 12 minutes.

A great move and a brilliant one-two with Pienaar saw Baines into the area and firing on John Ruddy, who got down well to save. Naismith then went down in the corner of the area to the requisite shout: nothing from referee Mike Jones. In Gibson's absence, Hitzlsperger was an increasingly dominant calming influence in midfield. Baines curled in a great cross for Jelavic but he was edged off it a little too easily.

Holt managed to beat three Everton defenders than thankfully fluffed his shot badly and failed to threaten Howard when all alone. Oviedo then picked out Naismith with a superb ball forward from midfield, but Jelavic was offside for the final ball as Norwich started to see a lot more of the ball.

Some good work from Osman ended up with him shooting straight at John Ruddy with Oviedo really catching the eye. Everton won their first corner on 36 mins, Hitzlsperger swinging it in well but Jelavic headed wide as the ref predictably blew for a foul amongst the crazy jostling. The pace dropped and Norwich won their first corner that Bassong came very close to converting.

Pienaar and Osman combined nicely but, with the goal gaping, Osman produced one of his classic powder-puff passes straight into the arms of John Ruddy.

After the break, and Mike Jones gave Norwich a dubious free kick that was defended away before Tettey lashed it well over. It was terribly scrappy and disjointed fare, with Jones giving Norwich every opportunity, a Pilkington free-kick nearly catching out Howard.

It was rubbish football allround, Howard needed to be alert for a ball over the top when Holt beat the offside trap. Baines raised the standard with an excellent delivery no-one could finish it off. Past the hour mark and Everton finally got a corner but the officiating was poor, both in controlling the 6-yard scrum, blatant encroachment, and a deflected Jelavic shot wrongly called as a goal-kick.

It was just as scrappy in the Everton area, the ball could have gone anywhere as the game went from bad to worse with Grant Holt the villain of the piece, but it was Johnson who earnt the first yellow for a foul on Oviedo. Everton were very vulnerable as Norwich again came close, Snodgrass beating Howard but not the four blue shirts back defending the goalline.

At the other end, some better work ended in Pienaar lofting the ball to no-one — where the hell was Jelavic? Some absolutely dire football on show but Oviedio was trying to raise the stakes with a low shot on Ruddy. But Everton's weak link was Pienaar, who had gotten worse and worse. But Baines did superbly to run through and lash in a shot on Ruddy.

Osman was next to make progress and play it in to where Jelavic should have been waiting... but again he was dawdling around 5 yards back instead of lurking in the danger area. Ruddy was then forced off with a knee or groin problem, to be replaced for the last 10 mins by Mark Bunn.

The game was summed up when Naismith and Jelavic got behind the Norwich defence and all Naismith had to do was square it to his pal Jelavic, who this time was up with the play... Naismith's ball was absolutely atrocious. While at the other end, Howard again had to produce the goods as the last line of defence from a determined header.

Oveido was fouled on the edge of the area. Tettey was finally booked for blatant encroachment (what happened to that 10-yard rule???). Baines finally curled in a decent shot that was just a foot over.

Norwich got the softest of free-kicks when Morison missed his kick. It was delivered very deep to the far post were Bassong did very well to power the ball through Howard, who had hesitated and gone back to his line instead of plucking the ball out of the air. The goal had been coming all second half, and Moyes's bizarre reaction was to swap Naismith for Vellios with two of the four extra minutes already gone.

Some games are tremendous adverts for the Premier League... this was anything but. Another 2 points squandered by the bumbling Blues.

Everton: Howard; Jagielka, Heitinga, Distin, Baines; Oviedo, Hitzlsperger, Osman, Pienaar; Naismith (90+2' Vellios); Jelavic. Subs not Used: Mucha, Duffy, Hibbert, Gueye, Barkley, Kennedy.

Norwich: Ruddy (82' Bunn), Whittaker, Bassong, Ryan Bennett, Garrido (Y:87'), Johnson, Tettey, Snodgrass (89' Jackson, Hoolahan (75' Morison), Pilkington, Holt. Subs not Used: Howson, Elliott Bennett, Barnett, Tierney

A good start thrown away

No Phil Neville for Everton at Reading today, with Thomas Hitzlsperger getting his first start, behind Naismith as Gibson and Mirallas miss out; Hibbert and Anichebe failed late fitness tests.

An early corner was a gift for Jagielka, who failed to bury his close-range shot, but in the follow-up, a cross back in found Jelavic all alone at the far post with a golden chance that he somehow scooped high and wide. Should be ahead in the second minute!

Reading had a couple of set-pieces that could have been threatening. But Everton went ahead when Jelavic kept the ball alive at the far post and a fumbled ball dropping infront of Fellaini and a couple of defenders stood up nicely for Naismith to stride forward and slot home.

Pienaar got in a good ball for Jelavic who shot fractionally wide. Naismith was taken down at the side of the Reading area and there were screams for a penalty but the ref gave nothing as Everton in their all-black kits kept pushing the home side back.

Roberts dragged at the shirt of Baines who was on the counter-attack, and he picked up the first yellow card. Coleman the got a silly booking for booting the ball away after he couldn't quite get his foot around it to keep it in play.

Gorkks took out Coleman cynically and rightly went in the referee's book. A great run by Jelavic was followed by a not -so-great cross that evaded Fellaini, perfectly positioned. Hitzlsperger took a pop and forced a punch from Frederici.

Naismith played in Osman perfectly but the new England man fluffed his lines badly by failing to score when in on the keeper. Then there was a chance for Jelavic on another punch from Frederici but the Iceman's cool shot was deflected away by an arm... but again no penalty given. It was developing into another one of those games where Everton dominate and pepper the opposition goal with chances but make very few of them count.

Everton had to defend a couple of early corners after the break and struggled for the first five minutes to reassert their dominance. Indeed, a Shorey free-kick given away by Hitzlsperger was headed home with ease by Le Fondre, and it was once again all square, Everton with everything to do once again.

Reading threatened to score again with another dangerous free-kick as Everton tried to reconstruct their cool passing game, Coleman winning a corner taken by Hitzlsperger. But the pressure was soon back on, Jagielka tihs time guilty of fouling.

Pienaar looked to release Jelavic but his chance was denied by a perfect tackle from Morrison. But Howard had to be alert when Roberts played in Le Fondre. At the other end, Osman's attempt on goal was rather poor .

Some clever work between Pienaar and Fellaini set up a snapshot for Hitzlsperger but he volleyed wide as the black shirts finally started to get a better grip of the game again.

But another free-kick, Coleman conned by Roberts, saw a dangerous ball swung in that Fellaini defended well against Morrison's kamikaze attack.

20 mins left, and well past Moyes's normal sub time, there was no movement on the subs bench, Moyes believing there was little on their that could do better than the ones on the field. A couple of Everton corners led only to a Reading breakout that saw a brilliant covering tackle by Coleman on Le Fondre.

England star Leon Osman seemed to be in with a glorious chance but the man with the clever feet inexplicably stumbled and miscontrolled the ball instead of lashing it into the net and a nothing ball resulted.

At the other end, disaster as Coleman, who had been booed all match for some reason, drove into the back of and a penalty awarded was lashed home by Le Fondre to surely give Reading their first win of the season. Fellaini was booked, presumably for protesting, and he will now miss the Norwich game. Moyes reacted to the setback by swapping out Naismith for Oviedo.

Fellaini headed into the ground and off the post, back into the hands of Frederici. Moyes then puled Hitzlsperger for Vellios with less than 10 mins left... too little, too late, surely?

Everton huffed and puffed but the lack of crisp and decisive finishing in the first half would be the story of this game as they allowed Reading to steal all the points, condemning Everton to only their second defeat of the season, but at a crucial time as the come toward the end of what was on paper an easier run of games... if there really is such a thing in the Premier Leaue!

The Glory of Goodison

In partnership with the Everton Heritage Society, the National Football Museum and Everton in the Community, the Museum of Liverpool will host a weekend of events on the 17th and 18th of November to mark 120 years of Goodison Park.

They include a number of talks covering the legendary Dixie Dean and other great Everton centre-forwards, the history of the Toffee Lady, Everton's tour of South America in 1909, the close links between Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs, the invention of goal nets, the 1933 FA Cup Final ball and the great T G Jones, the ‘Prince of Centre Halves'.

Opened in 1892, Goodison has a long and rich history that includes Second World War bomb damage, the death of Dixie Dean, a 1966 World Cup semi-final, and more top-flight matches than any other stadium in England.

That's not to mention the long list of firsts that the Grand Old Lady boasts, including being the world's first four-sided double-decker stadium, and the first football ground in England to have dugouts, fit a scoreboard and install under-soil heating.

The weekend will also include Museum tours, object handling sessions, footie-themed craft, children's stories, and the Liverpool Shanty Kings singing Everton Songs. The Toffee Ladies will also be on hand to make sure there's Everton fun for all the family and visitors of all football allegiances.

And if that's not enough, the Museum of Liverpool has more to offer in the Wondrous Place gallery, which explores sport and creativity in the city. Visitors can learn about the history of football on Merseyside, and experience Kicking and Screaming, a 360-degree film immersive exploring Liverpool's passion for football and the unique rivalry and success of Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs.

Opened last year, the Museum of Liverpool is the largest newly-built national museum constructed in Britain for more than a century. It showcases Merseyside's popular culture while tackling social, historical and contemporary issues.

Darron Gibson closes in on Everton FC return

DARRON GIBSON’S protracted injury ordeal is nearly over with the influential midfielder hoping to make his comeback against Reading in nine days.

The 25-year-old has already missed eight games after limping off with a thigh problem against West Bromwich Albion in September, and his return to fitness has taken longer than expected.

Finch Farm medics discovered that the Republic of Ireland international had also damaged a tendon near his thigh, which meant his initial month-long lay-off was always likely to be longer.

However David Moyes has been careful not to rush his bargain £250,000 capture from Manchester United back into the first team, in the hope that when he returns he will be able to last for the rest of the season.

Gibson has an outside chance of being involved against Sunderland on Saturday after taking part in some light training, but it is more likely he will be brought back for the trip to the Madjeski Stadium on November 17.

Having the former Manchester United man back in action in time for December has been a priority for Moyes, with crunch games against Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea all taking place during a tough month, alongside a trip to Stoke and high-flying West Ham United.

It means Everton, who are also hoping Tony Hibbert will recover in time for the weekend, will have a fully fit squad as they attempt to strengthen their grip on fourth place in the Premier League.