Leandro Trossard did the damage at Goodison Park once again, but we were forced to settle for a point on our final trip to the famous old ground.
We took a one-goal lead into half-time when the Belgian netted on the blue half of Merseyside for the second season in a row, but were pegged back straight after play restarted when Iliman Ndiaye scored a penalty.
120 years to the day that we first played at Goodison Park, we couldn’t quite end our story at the ground with the victory we craved, but did extend our unbeaten run to seven matches as we turn our attentions back to Europe.
Trossard again
With one eye on our double-header against Real Madrid over the next 11 days, Mikel made five changes to his side for this fixture and understandably, it took us a while to build up a head of steam, also unaided by the game constantly being disrupted due to a raft of stoppages for injuries.
Aside from a blocked effort from Raheem Sterling 90 seconds in after Ben White had wriggled behind Nathan Patterson, neither side could conjure up a serious sight of goal in the opening half an hour, but on 33 minutes when provided with one, we pounced.
A loose header from Idrissa Gueye allowed Sterling to pick up possession just inside our half and his pace saw him advance over halfway to the edge of the Everton area, sucking in backpeddling defenders. He then found Trossard who had ample time to steady himself before drilling a low effort under Jordan Pickford to net in successive Goodison matches.
The Belgian could have had another in first-half stoppage-time when a great pass by Jakob Kiwior allowed him to scamper behind the home defence but Pickford came out and did just enough to cut down the angle, with Declan Rice then seeing his effort blocked by a defender with the goal unattended.
Second half setback
Half-time saw the introductions of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, but 47 seconds after play restarted Everton were handed a huge opportunity to equalise when Myles Lewis-Skelly was adjudged to have tripped Jack Harrison inside the box, and after a lengthy delay Ndiaye kept his cool to send David Raya the wrong way from 12 yards.
That gave David Moyes’ side a burst of confidence and Raya was forced into his first save of the afternoon when Abdoulaye Doucoure attempted to find the bottom corner but our number one pushed it away as we weathered the storm.
But once again, the flow of the game was punctuated by pauses in play and a number of fouls, and goalmouth action dried up as a consequence, although Rice did force his England colleague Pickford to beat away a free-kick on 64 minutes.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes we were in the ascendancy and Martinelli beat Jake O’Brien all ends up to get into the box and shoot but Pickford acrobatically pushed his blast over, and Mikel Merino nearly kept up his fine goalscoring form but flicked a header from a Kieran Tierney cross just off target.
And that meant that our 113th and final trip to Goodison ended with the spoils shared, as we took our unbeaten league run up to 11 matches and turn our attention to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
FACTS AND STATS
Everton are the first team to have four consecutive home score draws in the Premier League since Chelsea in February 2016.
We have now drawn seven Premier League games despite leading this season, more than any other side.
Raheem Sterling assisting Leandro Trossard was the first time two players aged 30+ combined for a Premier League goal for us since March 2021, when Willian set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against Burnley.
Iliman Ndiaye’s penalty equaliser was his seventh Premier League goal this season, the outright most of any Everton player.
Despite only coming on as a 75th-minute substitute, no player created more chances in this match than Kieran Tierney (3).
James Tarkowski received his 64th yellow card in the Premier League, the outright most of any player never to be have been sent off in the competition.
What's next
We now head towards our Champions League quarter-final tie with Real. The first leg is at Emiratea Stadium on Tuesday, with the return game at the Bernabeu eight days later. Sandwiched between is a Premier League fixture against Brentford, with the Bees heading to north London on Saturday, April 12.
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