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Richarlison sees red as Everton are pegged back by Cherries

Lyndon Lloyd Saturday, 25 August, 2018 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
Bournemouth 2 - 2 Everton

Everton's hero from the first two games, Richarlison, will miss the next three league games through suspension following his red card

Everton had a man sent off for the second away game in succession but then threw away a 2-0 lead in an eventful draw with Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium.

Echoing Phil Jagielka's red card at Wolves a fortnight ago, new star signing Richarlison received his marching orders five minutes before half time for a head-to-head altercation with Adam Smith, leaving the Blues another difficult task with 50 minutes of the match to go.

Once again, however, they took the lead and then doubled their advantage through Michael Keane after Smith himself had been sent off with an hour gone but two Bournemouth goals in the space of four minutes salvaged a point for the home side.

The game was held up for a lengthy stoppage at the end when Keane had to be stretchered off following a nasty clash of heads with team-mate Idrissa Gueye but Gylfi Sigurdsson blazed the only real chance over once the game had resumed.

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With Morgan Schneiderlin ruled out through injury, Tom Davies was the only change to the team that started against Southampton last weekend and Everton emerged as the stronger team after a frenetic opening by both sides.

The Cherries carved out the better chances, however. Callum Wilson side-footed a great opportunity over the bar with 15 minutes gone after Ryan Fraser had passed into empty space on the edge of the box.

Then, after Theo Walcott had seized onto Steve Cook's wayward cross-field pass but then run into trouble rather than making a beeline for goal, Nathan Ake spurned the best chance of the half when he failed to connect with a free header, the ball bouncing off his shoulder with just Jordan Pickford to beat.

The game descended into its first moment of controversy as half-time approached, however, when Richarlison squared up to Smith in reaction to some apparently inflammatory comments from the Bournemouth man. The Brazilian and was sent off for pushing his head into his opponent's, referee Lee Probert using the letter of FIFA's law.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Everton took the lead, though, 11 minutes after half time. Sigurdsson fed Cenk Tosun who then threaded a pass to Walcott on the overlap down the right channel and this time the winger drove towards Asmir Bergovic's goal and hammered a shot past the ‘keeper.

With an almost carbon-copy run, Walcott then drew the foul that would see Smith red-carded for the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity five minutes later. Leighton Baines saw his curling free kick from the resulting set-piece saved but the Blues would score again five minutes after that.

A Sigurdsson cross from the right following a quickly-taken free-kick with Walcott was met by a towering, downward header from Keane and the ball squirmed under Begovic and in, sending the defender wheeling away in delight at his first Everton goal.

Bournemouth's response was almost immediate and when Wilson was put through behind the visitors' defence, it looked as though they might reduce arrears within just three minutes but the striker was denied well by Pickford.

Eddie Howe's men did halve the deficit with a little over a quarter of an hour to go, however, when Baines tangled with Wilson in the box as the latter tried to bring down a cross from the left flank and the referee awarded a penalty to Bournemouth which Josh King duly despatched into the corner beyond Pickford's reach.

In the 78th minute, the Cherries' comeback was complete when, just as against Southampton a week ago, the Everton defence was caught cold by a flick-on at the near post from a corner. Wilson's header came back off the post but Ake was the first of three black and red jerseys in front of goal to react and turn the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-2.

Wilson headed narrowly wide from a similar dead-ball situation four minutes later before Marco Silva withdrew Tosun for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and then Walcott for Bernard.

Any grandstand finale like the one that made this fixture three seasons ago such a memorable one was largely snuffed out by the eight minutes of treatment to the stricken Keane who was eventually taken to hospital with what looked to be a serious head injury.

 

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