Jordan Pickford 8
Wirth Gareth Southgate watching from the Main Stand, England’s number one had to make a terrific save early in the second half to keep out a header from Rico Henry after earlier gathering a stinging effort from Bryan Mbeumo at the second attempt.
Seamus Coleman 8
A more defensive display from the captain than we’ve seen at Goodison Park in recent times, he nevertheless used all his experience and know-how to keep tabs on Brentford’s fleet-footed attackers.
Ben Godfrey 7
Making his Goodison Park return, he provides a different outlet to Vitalii Mykolenko at left-back with his greater physicality but while he’s strong in the tackle and his athleticism up the flank provides an outlet going forward, his passing could be more composed at times.
MATCH BLOG: Everton vs Brentford LIVE
Michael Keane 8
His increased aerial prowess compared to Conor Coady who he has replaced provides Everton with an extra dimension in both defence and attack and he got on the end of several set-pieces with his headers, including one in the first half that flew just wide.
James Tarkowski 8
Suffered a clash of heads with team-mate Onana just before the break but grew into the game after looking a touch sluggish early on and defended resolutely when Everton needed him to as Brentford pushed for an equaliser.
Idrissa Gueye 8
Got his fair share of important nicks and prods in tight areas when it mattered, providing a shield in front of the back four, as Everton fought to protect their lead.
Abdoulaye Doucoure 8
Booked for dissent after earlier being in the thick of another melee with opponents, Everton’s midfield action man was fired up for this one, regularly closing down Brentford’s players while also demonstrating game intelligence to set up McNeil early on when he might have been tempted to have a go himself.
Amadou Onana 7
A bit livelier in the second half after a somewhat quiet first half in which he spurned a decent opportunity to double Everton’s lead, firing over the bar after Raya parried an Iwobi cross, he put in some hard yards before making way late on.
Alex Iwobi 8
Almost put Everton 2-0 up but his close range effort was cleared off the line while he also played his part in starting the move for Everton’s early goal with his pass to Doucoure in what was a bright and energetic display.
Dwight McNeil 9
Showed great composure to coolly despatch a left-foot finish past David Raya just 45 seconds into the game to get Everton off to a dream start and continued to produce a polished performance from then on, providing a threat from wide areas with his crossing and moving into pockets of space and even making a goal-line clearance at the other end.
Demarai Gray 7
Denied a goal on the stroke of half-time when his effort was ruled out for a supposed handball following a VAR review which looked inconclusive, nominally leading the line again but often drifting into wider areas, he was dangerous when running at Brentford’s defenders and had earlier forced Raya to turn a low drive around the post.
Tom Davies (on 80 for Onana)
Some fresh legs as Everton clung on.
Neal Maupay (on 86 for Gray)
Late chaos factor.
Vitalii Mykolenko (on 90 for Iwobi)
Extra defender for stoppage time.
