Despite starting the best XI they've had in several weeks, Everton came out rather flat in the first half of Monday night's contest against Leeds United at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Although the home side came out on the front foot, the visitors quickly recovered and ended up holding 53% of the first half possession, a worrying fact considering this is a team in the bottom half of the table playing on the road.
To make matters worse, Everton capitulated with just under half an hour into the match, as a series of defensive blunders left Leeds' James Justin open for a shot in the box, which he did not miss, slotting past Jordan Pickford to give the visitors an early, and deserved, lead.
Six minutes later, former Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin nearly doubled Leeds' total, as a good cross in from Jayden Bogle allowed DCL to get free, but the striker hit the post with Pickford surely beaten.
Things settled down for Everton from there and they had a half chance through Iliman Ndiaye's first shot on target, but it was never going to trouble the Leeds' goalkeeper. The Toffees went into the dressing room down 1-0, as a chorus of displeasured boos rained down on them from the home supporters.
But David Moyes had seen enough, and made two massive changes at half time.
Jarrad Branthwaite made his season debut after a hamstring injury kept him out since the summer, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall returned from his own weeks-long hamstring issue. They replaced Dwight McNeil, who never looked comfortable as a right winger against Leeds' back-three, and Harrison Armstrong, who was not part of the first half problem but was sacrificed nonetheless.
The shift into a matching back-three unlocked something for Everton, as they were more comfortable defensively, and having two of the club's better players when it comes to having the ball at their feet come on helped calm things down in attack.
This allowed Everton to take over the possession of the game, as the visitors were happy to sit back and defend their lead. The Toffees nearly broke through in the 63rd minute via Thierno Barry, who took a great ball in from James Garner and forced Karl Darlow into a fantastic save.
Tyler Dibling joined the fray soon after, replacing Nathan Patterson and shifting Everton back into a four-at-the-back setup. And while he wasn't the catalyst, Everton looked much more assured from then on.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Idrissa Gana Gueye took a pass from Dewsbury-Hall and weaved to the right before launching the ball into the box. Barry took it coolly and smashed the ball into the net past Darlow to equalize.
Two minutes later, Gana almost gave the Toffees the lead, hitting a rocket from outside the box on a nice setup from Dibling. Darlow had no chance to get to it, but it banged against the crossbar, just missing the opportunity to completely turn the match around for Everton.
Neither team had much of a chance until a stoppage time header from Justin that was easily saved, leaving to both sides taking a point from the match.
The highlight for Everton, outside of the excellent goal from Barry, was the return of Ndiaye, Gana, Branthwaite, Dewsbury-Hall, with Charly Alcaraz making the bench. Moyes getting most of his squad back to full health, currently outside of Jack Grealish and Tim Iroegbunam.
Everton will travel to Brighton on Saturday to close out the first month of 2026, sitting in 10th place in the Premier League table. Leeds United will host league-leading Arsenal on Saturday, still in 16th in the table.