Match Summary

Mikel Arteta: recovered from injury and ready to return to the midfield

A big crowd — the third largest of the season — turned up to boost Everton's spirits after the painful result last week at  Anfield and saw surprise starts for Yobo and Davies, with Weir standing down and Arteta only on the bench.  Kilbane was dropped — the first game in the entire season that he has not been involved with; Richard Wright was not dropped.

In only the second minute Rory Delap, playing on the left of midfield in place of Arca, curled a right-footed volley from the edge of the penalty area just wide of Richard Wright's left-hand post.

But in the 5th minute, Naysmith's left-wing cross picked out Beattie deep in the penalty area and although his left-foot shot was mis-hit it beat the Sunderland defence — and the unmarked Davies seven yards out — before Leon Osman turned the ball home at the far post.  It was a little fortuitous but a great start for Everton!

The Black Cats' response saw Dean Whitehead's deflected shot force Wright to save low down to his right while Jon Stead, 31 matches without a goal, fired harmlessly wide from long range.

Stead almost broke his duck when he intercepted a weak Davies header and unleashed a shot which Wright turned for a corner in the 16th minute.  Then, from Leadbitter's resultant cross, the ball was nodded on by Brown and Stead popped up at the far post to side-foot home his first goal for Sunderland since his £1.8M move from Blackburn in the summer and his first since April 30 last year.

The goal gave Sunderland renewed hope and they started to go forward much more positively.  But their mood was spoiled in the 26th minute when a Phil Neville long throw dropped in the six-yard box, Breen swung a leg at it but missed and James McFadden spun to fire home from close range.

Wright almost handed Sunderland an equaliser in the 36th minute when he came for a long throw but fumbled it straight into the path of George McCartney, whose right-footed shot was charged down by Yobo.

Stead's confidence was up following the goal and when the ball broke to him on the edge of the area off Tim Cahill he curled a left-footed effort just over.  At the other end Cahill's long-range volley was well blocked by goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

After the restart, Cahill flicked a great ball over to the far past where McFadden was able to head onto the crossbar.  Everton kept attacking, with Beattie trying to lob the goalkeeper, and McFadden firing tamely. 

The biggest cheer of the day met the return of Mikel Arteta who came on at the hour mark to try to inject a bit more life and creativity into a somewhat lethargic Everton team, Davies being the one withdrawn.

Sunderland were still up for the fight, though, with Stead getting a chance to equalize.  Yobo had to take command at the back as Wright dithered. 

Osman got on the end of a good Arteta corner but no-one cold get on to the end of it.  Arteta then robbed Breen and went for a one-two off McFadden but the Scot instead went for glory and totally messed up his shot, with Arteta having made a brilliant receiving rum.  Arteta was not best pleased.

With 10 minutes to go, Sunderland galloped up the other end with Stead and Whitehead combining to get a superb cross in for Delap who could head easily past Wright for a fully deserved equalizer that stunned Goodison.

Everton finally responded, Neville had a great run and cross but could not convert. Neville won a corner off one of his long throws, but Sunderland responded too, as the game finally burst into life.  A Neville free-kick was nodded back by Cahill but McFadden failed to finish it off.

On came Duncan Ferguson for the last five minute and almost got on the end of a good cross.  Cahill got a header but it was straight at the goalie. Beattie went to ground and they all claimed a penalty but Halsey gave it the other way for shirt-tugging.

At the other end, out of nothing a ferocious shot by Delap from 30 yards had Wright stranded but it banged off the post!   In another surging attack, McFadden ran on in at McCartney but could not control it.  Another chance came for Osman but he fired a foot wide.

So, all our negativity following the derby disaster must be the cause of a pretty poor display by Everton where they could not beat the Premiership bottom club, who are already doomed to relegation.  Ah well, these things happen in football!

Michael Kenrick

Match Preview

After allowing a stellar run of form to stall horribly with a disappointing derby performance last weekend, Everton get the ideal opportunity to put their late charge for Europe back on track with the visit of a Sunderland side awaiting the formality of confirmation of their return to the Championship after just one season back in the top flight.

As home bankers in the Premiership go, this is as solid as they get, but, of course nothing is certain — hey, that's why they play the games!

Andy van der Meyde, for whom April Fool's Day seemed to come a week early, is ruled out as he begins a three-match ban that Everton have decided not to appeal.  They refused to contest Iain Turner's dismissal earlier this year as well; perhaps they've learned that not being part of the G14 means you're doomed to failure in any attempts to change unjust rulings on the field of play.

Elsewhere, Nuno Valente joins Nigel Martyn on the long-term injury list and his season could be over, which means another likely start for Gary Naysmith and the continued presence in goal of the increasingly unreliable Richard Wright.

The good news, however, is that Mikel Arteta is — barring any last-minute catastrophes — a cert to return to give the midfield some much-needed creativity and direction after missing a game and a half with a back injury.  Kevin Kilbane will probably step aside for the Spaniard.

The rest of the side should remain unchanged.  That means that Joseph Yobo will likely be kept out again by the old codgers and the two Jameses will form the attacking partnership in search of more goals to improve our pretty poor goal difference.

Sunderland, who haven't won since January and have only scored two goals in their last nine league games, are rooted to the bottom of the table and are probably a couple of games away from their demotion from the top flight being confirmed.

If the Blues can rediscover the form that carried them to convincing victories over Fulham and Aston Villa, then this should be an enjoyable day out against the Wearsiders.  But complacency can be our biggest enemy...

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

This will be the 161st meeting between Everton and Sunderland in all competitions and the 144th League meeting between the teams.  This will also be the 83rd meeting at home and the 72nd home League meeting.

Everton's full record against Sunderland is:

Everton’s record at home to Sunderland is:

The last meeting between the clubs was earlier this season when Tim Cahill scored a last-minute winner for Everton in our 1:0 win at The Stadium of Light.  The last meeting between the clubs at Goodison Park was on 29 January 2005 when James McFadden, Tim Cahill and James Beattie’s first goal for the club secured a 3:0 win in the FA Cup.

The most common Everton victory over Sunderland is 1:0, which has happened 13 times in Everton’s 69 victories.  Sunderland’s most common victory is shared between 1:0 and 2:1, both of which have happened 11 times each in their 66 victories.  The most common draw between the sides is 1:1, which has happened 9 times in the 25 draws between the sides.

There have been 10 hat-tricks against Sunderland.  The last was by Tony Cottee, who got all 4 goals in Everton’s 4:1 win in the Zenith Data Systems Cup on 22 January 1991.  Interestingly, all 10 hat-tricks have been scored by different players.

Everton's record for 1 April is:

This is the first time the clubs have met on this day.  Everton’s last match on this day was in 2002, when Nick Chadwick, Alessandro Pistone and Tomasz Radzinski scored in a 3:1 win over Bolton Wanderers at Goodison Park.

Tommy Fern was born on this day in 1886 in Measham.  Signed from Lincoln City in 1913, Tommy made an amazing 231 appearances for Everton in a war-shortened career, before his move to Port Vale in 1923.

Dai Davies was also born on this day in 1948 in Ammanford.  Signed from Swansea City in 1970, the Everton shot-stopper played 94 times, including an own goal on his debut!  He moved to Wrexham in 1976.

John Bailey was born on this day in 1957 in Liverpool.  After signing from Blackburn Rovers in 1979, John made 222 appearances and scored 3 goals before he made way for Pat van den Hauwe and eventually moved to Newcastle United.  But not before he picked up an FA Cup winners medal and a European Cup Winners Cup medal (as an unused substitute).

Steve Watson was born on this day in 1974 in North Shields.  Signed from Aston Villa in July 2000, Steve made 137 appearances and scored 16 goals before he was released and moved on to join West Bromwich Albion.  Steve was the last Everton player to score a hat-trick, doing so against Leeds United in September 2003.

Edgar Chadwick and Johnny Holt were both in the England team that beat Scotland 5:2 on this day in 1893.

Twelve years later, in 1905, Jack Sharp was in the England team that beat Scotland 1:0, with his team-mate Alex “Sandy” Young playing for the Scots.

Neville Southall, Kevin Ratcliffe and Pat van den Hauwe were all in the Welsh team that beat Finland 4:0 on this day in 1987.

Milestones that can be reached this game:

·          If Everton win, then they will extend the club’s current Premier League record for the most consecutive home wins to seven.  The club record, overall, is held by the 1930-31 Division Two team who won a staggering 15 consecutive home matches, on their way to the Division title at the end of the season.

·          If either team scores a goal, then Everton will extend the current club record for the most consecutive matches without a goalless draw in the Premier League to 52 matches.  The current record of 51 matches is the longest current run without a goalless draw by any team in the Premier League.  Also, they will extend the current club record for the most matches without a goalless draw at home in the Premier League to 46 matches, still a long way short of the club record of 110 matches between 1888 and 1896 – which were the first 110 League matches the club played at home!

·          In the following scenario – Everton beat Sunderland, Birmingham lose to Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion lose to Liverpool – then Everton are mathematically safe from relegation.

Steve Flanagan

Gas Panic!

It was about 11:50am, as I was just getting ready to set off for this one, when Ste burst into my room and with a stunned face on explained to me that the game had been called off today.  When I asked him why, he said there had been a gas leak in the Lower Gwladys and then switched on the teletext to show me this news.  I was astonished and suggested a bit of all day drinking.  It was then that the penny dropped – April’s Fools.  Thanks Ste you wacky bastard!

So with the game going ahead as planned and no gas leek to report, off we set and met up with the others in The Spellow.  So confident was I of a stroll in the park for Everton that I even had the audacity to put a bet on Everton to win 2-0 with Cahill getting the first goal.  25-1 seemed a good price.

We fractionally missed Z-Cars and by the time we got to our seats the game was about to start.  Wright retained his place in goal, Yobo replaced Weir, Osman switched to the left giving Davies a game on the right while McFadden and Beattie started together up front.  There was no room for Kilbane in the squad against his former club with the bench looking pretty strong – Weir, Arteta, Ferguson, Carsley and Turner.

Everton started quite brightly attacking towards the Park End whilst Sunderland certainly weren’t playing like a team so far adrift from everybody else in the league.  Nevertheless on about five minutes the blues had the lead with from where I was sitting seemed like a scrappy goal that Osman finished off. I think Davies had an effort blocked or saved but Osman popped up with the rebound. I would have preferred it to have been Cahill but never mind.

Strangely this gave Sunderland a bit of impetus and they went for it really.  They hustled and harried well and knocked it about OK.  Somebody hit one straight at Wright who comfortably saved.  Not long afterwards, Sunderland had another attack.  Again somebody shot but Wright tipped it round the post.  Everton’s marking from the corner was truly pathetic and Jon Stead, goalless all season, had a simple tap in.  You just knew he was gonna score.  I think that's three goals for him against us in five games.

What resulted from this was something of a slog but it did bring Everton back in front again.  We got a throw-in down the Sunderland left.  Gaz said “Don’t throw it in Nev, we never score from that”.  Neville tossed it in and I couldn’t really tell how but McFadden ended up diverting the ball home and we were undeservedly leading 2-1.  At the other end, Wright flapped wildly and was bailed out by his defenders and Stead showed us why he has only scored once all season with a shockingly bad attempt from 20 yards.  Half-time: 2-1.

We started the second half quite brightly but never really got going.  On two separate occasions at 2-1, McFadden had headers kept out by a combination of keeper and crossbar and if truth be told Everton should have wrapped it up.  But give Sunderland credit though: they stuck at their task and went for it and it paid off.  A great cross from the right hand side was met brilliantly by Rory Delap who’s header gave Wright no chance and with about nine minutes to go, it was 2-2.

Arteta was already on for the ineffectual Davies by this point and a few minutes later Ferguson came on for Naysmith as Everton went 4-3-3.  Neville switched to left back and Ferguson was up top with Beattie and McFadden.  Ferguson had a header blatantly deflected wide but the ref didn’t see it and gave a goal kick. 

For a few minutes, Everton were extremely dominant, but this was met by Sunderland's brave resistance and they held out.  Moreover, down the other end, somebody broke free and with no real support let fly from about 25 yards.  His curling shot came back off the post and bounced away.  Wright might even have got a touch; not sure.  Either way it was spectacular and we could well have lost this one.

Having said that, down the other end Beattie appeared to be dragged down in the box.  It looked a certain penalty to me but the referee adjudged him to have tugged the centre back.  Quite how and why considering Beattie was in front of him I simply don’t know.  The Everton players protested, Beattie didn’t say anything and obviously felt that either: a) he was guilty. b) There was no point. 

Right at the death, Osman fizzed an effort just wide from 18 yards and that was that.  I kicked a seat in frustration.  The ref blew fore full time.  We’d cocked up against the worst team in the league.  How embarrassing.

I was heartened when we met Gary later on though.  He said he went for a piss with 15 minutes to go and felt bored so decided to go for a pint back at The Spellow.  As he was walking out he heard a big cheer and was gutted as he thought he’d missed an Everton goal.  Imagine his amazement when he got to the pub and saw that it was 2-2.  “They make some noise them Sunderland fans don’t they” is the best he could offer.  Goodnight, Europe...

Player Ratings:

• Wright: Flapped at everything and it is quite clear that the defence have no confidence in him. 5
• Naysmith: Typically resilient display from Naysmith. 7
• Stubbs: a bit hit and miss. Good and clever at times, but a bit erratic and of course slow at others. 6
• Yobo: Now this suggests that Weir and Stubbs are better. It just doesn’t seem to click with Yobo and either one of them. Strange. 6
• Hibbert: I thought he was poor. His distribution wasn’t up to much at all. 5
• Osman: Used his head well and slotted in another goal. 7
• Cahill: Just about scrapes man of the match for me. Put himself about well in the middle and used the ball well. 7
• Neville: Indifferent really. Good tackling and passing but would cock up with a sloppy pass. To be honest, there are better players than him for the World Cup. 6
• Davies: Looked lost really but battled his way into the game before being withdrawn. 6
• Beattie: Didn’t really see much of the ball and I don’t think he had a chance all game. 6
• McFadden: Played well and chased hard. Scored as well. Was just missing with the final ball on a few occasions. 7
   
• Arteta (for Davies): Showed his class but not on for too long really. 7
• Ferguson (for Naysmith): Not on long but put himself about and won a few headers. 6

Paul Trail

^* Unfortunately, we cannot control other sites' content policies and therefore cannot guarantee that links to external reports will remain active.