With David Moyes denied the selection of his stalwarts, Hibbert and Neville — both red-carded for penalty offences in last weekend's derby travesty — he was forced to come up with a much more appealing side including Phil Jagielka at right back for the first time and a nice-looking five-man midfield: Arteta, Osman, Cahill, Carsley & Pienaar, with Aiyegbeni Yakubu op front on his own. For Derby, Everton Academy reject Jay McEveley is in the team.
An early chance for Cahill could have gone in as Everton looked like very businesslike early on. Jagielka, though picked up a yellow card barely 10 mins into the game as the Derby attack seemed to focus him with Lewis.
Then a great opportunity for Cahill, a header just wide after a superb run and cross by Baines.
But it was Jagielka who scampered forward as Derby looked for a corner and caught them on the break with a good release from Howard. The move was completed with an excellent ball played in Mikel Arteta and he advanced on Bywater, and with an accurate low shot into the corner, finishing with aplomb.
Leighton Baines was ploughed down by a disgusting assault from Moore, who was booked for his troubles, and he looked done for, failing to appear for the second half. On the hour, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who had done nothing all day, was played in finally by Yobo, one-on-one on Bywater he drew the goalkeeper intelligently and slotted the ball past him, nicely taken.
Barnes had a shot, deflected to totally wrong-foot Tim Howard, but it fortunately went wide of the other post. With Everton comfortable and 10 mins left. it was time to rotate Yakubu for Anichebe, with a great cheer from the massed Evertonians.
A good solid businesslike and professional performance and a vital; away win that puts Derby into the bottom slot in the Premier League. And it puts Everton back into the top half of the table!!!
Michael Kenrick
Confidence is a valuable commodity and Everton's 3-1 victory over Larissa, coupled with the return to action of the likes of Tim Cahill and Thomas Gravesen — the former having lost none of his goal touch, the latter seemingly as mad and unpredictable as ever — will hopefully do wonders for their league form which has slipped in recent weeks.
The defeat in the Merseyside derby condemned the Blues to the bottom half of the Premier League, that after spending all of last season in the opposite half on their way to a sixth-place finish. David Moyes's side have lost half of the league games they've played so far and with fixtures coming thick and fast, there is a danger that the chase for repeat qualification for Europe could be scuppered by commitments in cup competition.
A trip to Derby County, a team struggling at the bottom of the table with just one victory to their name and a real uphill struggle ahead if they're to remain in the top flight, provides a decent opportunity for Everton to win a game following Uefa Cup involvement, something they failed to do after both matches against Metalist Kharkiv.
What was perhaps most significant about the Larissa win was the return of the 4-1-4-1 formation — not only that but it proved remarkably effective for the three goals... while being remarkably ineffective when the Blues were under the cosh and the Greeks were threatening an equaliser.
It would not be surprising to see Moyes employ the same formation at Pride Park at this weekend particularly with it being an away game. The manager has already hinted that Cahill could start a second successive game and with Phil Neville suspended, the same will likely go for Lee Carsley.
Tony Hibbert's forced suspension could give Phil Jagielka an opportunity to excel in a more natural position at right back — Moyes could opt for Joseph Yobo in that position and partner Alan Stubbs with Joleon Lescott but he is more likely to use the old campaigner at Luton on Wednesday — while up front it's possible the boss could have the choice of four strikers if James Vaughan is passed fit.
This is obviously the kind of game that Everton should win and with Derby having conceded more goals than any other in the Premier League by some distance so far this season, there is plenty of scope for the Blues to do just that if they can click in attack the way they did on Thursday.
With daylight starting to open up between ourselves and the top six, getting back to winning ways is imperative.
Lyndon Lloyd
Sunday sees Everton trying to build on their winning start to the UEFA Cup group campaign and get their league form back on track as the team travel to Derby County for the 138th meeting between the sides.
Everton's record against Derby County:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Premier League
12
5
2
14
15
Division One
110
54
19
37
214
154
Division Two
0
9
4
FA Cup
11
8
3
26
16
League Cup
1
TOTALS:
137
69
22
46
263
190
Our record at Derby County:
6
7
10
55
20
87
101
67
25
33
104
122
The last time the clubs met was way back in March 2002, when goals from David Unsworth, Alan Stubbs, Niclas Alexandersson and Duncan Ferguson ensured that David Moyes won his second match in charge of the club and his first away win.
This will be Everton’s 19th match on 28 October:
18
27
23
The last match on this date was a 1:1 draw at Arsenal last season, with Tim Cahill giving Everton an early lead. Milestones that can be reached this game:
Steve Flanagan
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* Everton deducted 8 pts; †Forest deducted 4 pts for PSR breachView full table
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