Prince Rupert's Tower
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Everton disjointed in frustrating Clarets draw

By Matt Townsend

Everton's Colombian defender Yerry Mina (R) vies with Burnley's New Zealand striker Chris Wood during the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Everton at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on December 5, 2020. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by OLI SCARFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Everton's Colombian defender Yerry Mina (R) vies with Burnley's New Zealand striker Chris Wood during the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Everton at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on December 5, 2020. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by OLI SCARFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Everton ended up with a point as they came back from an early goal and another injury to draw 1-1 at Burnley.

This was a match Everton really needed to get all three points from, but having gone behind in the third minute and looking likely to concede more, a point is of course better than nothing.

Carlo Ancelotti decided to stick to his recently adopted 3-4-3 formation. Again though he didn’t pick Niels Nkounkou to replace the injured Lucas Digne, this time he went with Fabian Delph at left wing-back. Nkounkou wasn’t even on the bench and neither was Anthony Gordon.

I don’t know what is going on with these young players but for some reason Ancelotti just doesn’t appear to have any confidence in them. It’s more than a little concerning that he won’t even include them in the match-day squad.

The Italian also dropped Mason Holgate after his poor game against Leeds last Saturday and reinstated Yerry Mina at centre-back alongside Micheal Keane and Ben Godfrey.

However, yet again his latest looking defence conceded another goal as Burnley started brightly and scored just a few minutes into the game. It would be Everton who give a team that had only scored one goal in six matches an early lead!

To be fair there wasn’t much that the Toffees defenders could have done about the goal as Brady’s fine long shot found the back of the net.

The Blues were struggling again to get a grip on the game, especially in midfield as they had done last weekend against Leeds. Then came the injury to Delph and the enforced change in formation.

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Once again another Toffees player had succumbed to the injury curse and so Ancelotti reverted to a flat back four with Alex Iwobi joining Godfrey at full back and Andre Gomes coming into midfield.

This change did give Everton a more solid base and the two makeshift full-backs both did well in unfamiliar positions.

The Blues gradually got a grip of the game with the midfield critically stronger now that the Gomes had joined Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure – re-uniting the original three from the start of the season.

Then right at the end of the first half Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin again combined superbly to enable the England striker to score yet another goal this season.

Calvert-Lewin has just been phenomenal this campaign and he’s taken another big leap forward in his development – surely he’s the best striker in the Premier League at the moment?

Given how essential his goals have been to the team and the fact few others have found the net recently, Everton would be lost without him up front. Like every Blues fan, I just hope and pray he doesn’t also get injured!

Richarlison did enjoy playing closer to him after the change in system and once again had a good game in support, while the three men in midfield gave James Rodriguez more freedom to influence things and he also grew into the match.

In the second half it was the Toffees who looked the more likely to score and but for some excellent goalkeeping from Tom Pope in the Clarets goal, would have done, although Burnley also had their moments too. So that was that 1-1 and the Blues had to settle for a point.

It’s hard not to feel really frustrated after another disjointed display from Everton. And the failure to win could be costly. This is because the Blues have some difficult games coming up against  Chelsea and Leicester City before Arsenal.

It’s possible the Toffees could get a win or points against both Arsenal and Leicester, but I’m not optimist they will beat Chelsea away next weekend, so this draw might not feel like much in two or three weeks time.