That’s all from us here today. We’ll leave you with Will Unwin’s quickfire report from Goodison Park, which he filed before Forest’s tweet. I imagine it may come up in his rewrite a little later. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Sean Dyche on Beto …
The early signs are very good. He had come round, he was speaking to the physios and the medical team.
Updated
Forthcoming fixtures for today’s teams …
Everton
24 Apr Liverpool (h)
27 Apr Brentford (h)
3 May Luton (a)
11 May Sheff Utd (h)
19 May Arsenal (a)
Nottingham Forest
28 Apr Man City (h)
4 May Sheff Utd (a)
11 May Chelsea (h)
19 May Burnley (a)
Forest tweet criticism of officials and 'Luton fan' VAR
Extraordinary quickfire response on social media from today’s visitors …
In case they delete it, which they probably should, it reads:
Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
James Tarkowski speaks!
After Monday [6-0 defeat at Chelsea] we needed to respond and we did. There’s tough games down here …With the fans behind us we know we can beat anyone. We’re not getting carried away.
It was a week of reminders about who we are. Monday was a reality check. We bounced back today.
Dwight McNeil adds …
The job isn’t done yet. We need to win more games. It’s massive getting three points today.
We’ve got to take the win and the momentum and carry it forward. We’ve got to get ready for Wednesday.
Updated
Elsewhere, for your enjoyment …
Arsenal are closing in on victory against Leicester in the WSL …
Inbox corner …
Kevin Bossy writes:
Re: Branthwaite playing ref. After Antony Taylor’s performance today someone needs to play ref. He has been shocking and that’s charitable.
Forest fan Daniel Lees adds:
Wondering how my team can be so outplayed by such a poor team as Everton. They should be three down. We’ve great players but a poor team. I might go back to Baby Reindeer which was making me feel only MARGINALLY less comfortable than this shower.
That table makes extremely uncomfortable reading for Forest, who have only won two of their last 10 games. Next up: Manchester City …
How they stand
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Everton | 33 | -14 | 30 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 34 | -18 | 26 |
| 18 | Luton | 34 | -28 | 25 |
| 19 | Burnley | 34 | -32 | 23 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 33 | -57 | 16 |
Full time! Everton 2-0 Nottingham Forest
Huge points for the hosts. Nervy times for Nuno and all the Forest faithful. We certainly haven’t heard the last of the various penalty appeals.
90 min+16 Chermiti booked for time-wasting, in an instance of the most pointless time-wasting you’ll ever see. Dyche is, predictably, fuming at that.
90 min+14 Gibbs-White vainly tries to get something, anything going. He swings a ball high … Pickford plucks it from the sky. Forest shoulders have slumped. Gibbs-White tries to force his way through the middle. No dice. He tries to clip a ball over the top from midfield … and finds Pickford again.
90 min+11 The match was fizzling out and the lengthy stoppage has made the remaining fizz even less fizzy. Everton are running down the clock fairly efficiently. Forest ran out of home here a good 15 minutes ago.
In fact Chermiti almost finds Garner in a promising position, sniffing for a third. It’s intercepted.
90 min+9 Beto raises a thumb to the fans as he departs, mercifully conscious, to chants of his name. Chermiti is on. Play resumes. Murillo gets a yellow card within about six nanoseconds.
Updated
90 min+7 The players and managers don’t know what to do with themselves. Ditto the fans. Ditto your resident live-blogger. And likewise 19-year-old Youssef Chermiti, who has been standing on the touchline waiting to replace Beto for around 6 minutes.
We are not currently being shown pictures of Beto, as medical staff still attend to him but I am led to believe that he is now on a stretcher and moving, so it sounds like he is conscious.
Updated
90 min+3 Gibbs-White is, thankfully, up. A stretcher is waiting for Beto, however, about whom there is significantly more concern. Of the little footage we’ve seen of him, it’s not clear that he’s moved since the collision. My decidedly non-medical eye leads me to believe he was unconscious from the moment of impact.
A hush briefly descended on the ground, which tells you plenty.
90 min+2 Eeesh – a bad clash of heads. Beto and Gibbs-White. Both sets of players immediately usher on medical staff. I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing replays of that.
Updated
90 min Harrison burns away some seconds on the right. Doucouré does some Fred Astaire-style footwork on the edge of the Forest box to account for some more. As things stand Everton have a five-point cushion to the relegation places.
89 min Elanga tries to get something going on the left. It’s just not happening. Everton mop up again. Murillo gets penalised after tangling with Neto.
The board goes up – there are nine minutes of stoppage time, and Everton have the ball.
87 min It’s all getting a little desperate now, as you might imagine. Yates buys a foul from Garner midway in the home half, and looks thrilled to have done so.
The ball in is better, but Pickford punches away.
Neco Williams has hurtled backwards over the advertising hoardings after a challenge with McNeil. He’s being attended to but is thankfully OK. That could have been nasty. Completely accidental, I hasten to add.
Updated
85 min Forest’s passing is crisp until the final third. Gibbs-White rides a foul from Doucouré but there’s no advantage to be had, so he gets a free-kick instead. His floated effort finds Yates’ head, but there’s an Everton boot on the second ball. There’s an Everton head or boot on all the second balls at the moment.
83 min Aina launches a throw from the right into Jordan Pickford’s box. Nobody in a red shirt is anywhere near it. Everton mop up, and almost get Beto clear through the middle. A last-ditch tackle halts his charge. Forest start again from the back.
82 min Harrison gets a booking for stopping an attempted Forest break. The visitors need a goal pretty much immediately if they’re going to get anything here.
80 min Branthwaite wants a card for new arrival Yates, who had an arm up while going for an aerial ball. He gets one, but so does Branthwaite, for trying to play ref. They don’t like that.
78 min The home faithful are bouncing. You can almost hear the stadium move. What a crucial goal that could prove for them.
More changes for Forest: Yates, Ribeiro and Origi (who gets a predictably warm welcome, given his past against Everton), on for Dominguez, Danilo and Hudson-Odoi.
Goal! Everton 2-0 Nottm Forest (McNeil 76)
Well then. Garner plays it square midway in the Forest half, there’s a nice interchange of passes on the edge of the Forest area, and suddenly McNeil absolutely thrashes it into the right corner.
He has another go in the time it’s taken me to type this, straight at Sels this time.
Updated
74 min Doucouré sees yellow for a raised boot. Williams goes long to set Gibbs-White free on the right, but Everton mop up.
Then comes Garner’s first meaningful action …
73 min It’s so, so error-strewn. Nerves are jangling. McNeil lets the ball roll under his foot for a throw after Taylor played a good advantage to see if Everton could make something of it. There’s your update, folks. Check back soon for more.
71 min Harrison turns beautifully to find space, leaving Aina sliding off the pitch on his rear end, and he crosses dangerously. No dice, however. Forest clear and advance once more.
69 min Wood should do better! He looks like taking a regulation short pass from Elanga, just to the right of the penalty spot, but it somehow eludes him. That was an opening that promised so much more.
67 min Forest are showing more quality on the ball at the moment, but they’re seeing less of it. Again they start from the back, with Gibbs-White getting a chance to lob forward … and his heavy lofted ping immediately makes me regret saying they’re showing more quality on the ball at the moment.
66 min Beto is now coming on for Calvert-Lewin. James Garner joins him, on for André Gomes.
63 min Elanga helps his side play out deftly from the back. Hudson-Odoi crosses from the left, but it’s cleared, and another promising position fizzles out.
61 min Calvert-Lewin is back on, but it’s more messy stuff at the back from Everton. They gift possession following a mix-up at right-back. Danilo almost gets on to a ball from Hudson-Odoi at the touchline, but it’s too heavy.
58 min Branthwaite returns and inexplicably tries to go on a mazy dribble along the edge of his own box. The move he tries to instigate falters almost immediately, and Gibbs-White is suddenly through and clear. He tries to bend it into the far right corner … it curls just wide.
Calvert-Lewin is down, with his right leg being looked at. Beto was briefly looking like being prepped to replace him, but after a thumbs-up from the starter, he re-bibs.
56 min Branthwaite is down after a coming-together but Forest play on, to the turbo-fume of the home faithful. Referee Taylor halts proceedings. While he gets attended to. He’s off the pitch but being patched up to return.
The penalty shout is interesting. Young seems to slide through Hudson-Odoi, but a bit of tippy-toe does apparently strike ball. Nuno is about as unchuffed-looking as you might imagine.
Updated
55 min Penalty shout! Hudson-Odoi goes down and is perplexed to not see the ref peeping and pointing at the spot. Replays of that could be interesting. Young felled him but may well have got a fair bit of ball first.
Updated
54 min Messy at the back post, all kinds of semi-punishable holding, and the ball breaks to Calvert-Lewin, who thrashes wide of the left stick.
53 min Reyna makes way for Elanga. But Ashley Young curtails an attempted Forest move, bursting forward to get a little something going. Net result: corner.
51 min Anthony Elanga is doing up his shorts toggles on the touchline. It’s no surprise that a change is imminent for Forest. The ball’s in the left corner for Everton, being shielded … in the 51st minute. It’s that kind of match.
50 min Branthwaite intervenes to clear a cross from the left. There are glimmers of openness at both ends but it’s all a bit scrappy.
48 min Another miskick from Pickford, this time with Wood marauding, goes unpunished. Calvert-Lewin gets a similarly unpunished cuddle from Niakhaté as he tries to find space on the left.
Updated
46 min Muted opening stages, before Pickford invites pressure with a horrendously sliced kick out. His team recover, press on, but gift the ball back. Suddenly Forest have a spell of possession in the home half.
Peep! Second-half starts
We go again. Dry-cleaning status here: nil (thanks for asking, Dean). As things stand Everton are in the box seat for only their second win in 12 games. Can they hang on to a crucial three points? The teams are unchanged for the second half.
Updated
Greetings all. Tense business, this bottom-five lark. Gueye’s goal looked pretty splendid on initial viewing but the ball seems to travel more slowly towards that bottom-left corner with every subsequent one. Will Forest – and Matz Sels – regret letting that one in? Let’s find out …
On which point I’m away to Wembley; Stuart Goodwin will coax you through the second half of this, and I’ll see you for the clásico a little later. Peace out!
Updated
Half-time entertainment: to get you in the mood for the Cup semi, a piece on the greatest header I’ve ever seen.
Half-time: Everton 1-0 Nottingham Forest
There’s a lot left in this. Everton have the lead but Forest look the likelier scorers.
45+2 min The third corner flies behind, and that’ll be enough for Everton; they need half-time now because Forest are on top.
45 min We’ll have two additional minutes.
45 min Tarkowski is involved in a clash of heads and goes down; there’s a break, during which the ref books a member of the Forest backroom staff, then Forest take a corner which yields another.
44 min Now then! A cross to the back post, Hudson-Odoi volleys it back towards the mixer … but the ball clips Young’s extended arm. No penalty says the official, VAR also in agreement, and I’m glad because that wasn’t an offence severe enough to merit an 80% chance of a goal, but the arm was away from the body having moved towards the ball, and I no longer understand the laws of a game I’ve been watching for 42 years.
42 min “By all rights, given Idrissa Gueye’s age and glittering career,” says Kári Tulinius, “he should be seeing out his playing years in the Saudi League or the MLS and basking in the glow of being a legend in his country and for Les Dogues. But he has a good claim to be Everton’s best player this season.”
40 min And here he is now, sticking a decent cross to the back post for Wood, and he’s going to equalise … no he isn’t! He volleys hard from close-range, apparently doing the necessary, but Pickford makes a fantastic save, pranging out an arm, and noising up the Gwladys behind him; they respond in kind when he comes to collect the cross that follows. That was a crucial intervention.
39 min Forest need someone to show them the way here, because since going behind they’ve done nothing; Gibbs-White will surely be the one to whom they look.
Updated
37 min We’ve seen no kind of response from Forest, Gomes now coming on to a good game and spreading play in midfield, before Doucoure crosses without having checked Calvert-Lewin’s run; Sels collects.
35 min Everton are going for more, and that makes sense, If they try nursing the 1-0 there’s every chance they get done because Forest have players who can hurt them. So it makes sense for them to get the ball down the other end and hope their rest defence is solid enough to deny counters.
33 min “Gio Reyna sticks out a foot towards a ball he’s not going to win, forcing the opponent to kick it,” writes Eric Peterson. “He’s been watching Anthony Gordon.”
I like Anthony Gordon. You could see when he was at Everton that he might develop into a player, and whatever else is said about Eddie Howe, his ability to improve those under him is excellent. As for the potential penalty, Reyna didn’t force Young to do anything – he’s in control of his own activity.
31 min “I’m still reeling from the fact that the dry cleaner chastised you in your own house,” says Mac Millings.”Who does he think he is? My mother-in-law?”
Bernard Maning over here! He also advised me that 7/10 was a deliberate Israeli plot; this was not the end of the conversation.
GOAL! Everton 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Gueye 29)
Who saw this coming? Everton work it left and Mykolenko crosses; the ball’s headed clear, Gueye picks it up on the edge, and shoots low, across Sels … and into the far corner, off the post! That’s an excellent finish, a shot that looks saveable not remotely so, and what a crucial intervention that could be!
Updated
29 min “Regarding Duncan Edwards rosy picture of a possible Everton relegation,” says Mary Waltz,. “it has a Pythonesque ‘Always Look On the Bright Side of Life’ quality to it but in reality, it would be like an actual crucifixion, long, bloody, painful.”
Out of the door. Line on the left. One cross each.
27 min McNeil slings over a cross and Calvert-Lewin is along in the box! But the ball’s a little high for him and backpeddling, he can only plop into Sels’ hands.
25 min There’s not loads going on here, but Reyna is booted from behind by Young, just on the edge of the box; no penalty. He can consider himself lucky, because that was close.
23 min “I’m old enough to remember Roger Ramjet,” writes Joe Pearson. “Fun fact: same voice actor as Space Ghost (Gary Owens). And he was also the announcer on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Now your day is complete!”
Tremendous. Nowadays it’d be the most famous person they could get hold of.
23 min Better from Gomes, Everton moving it nicely before he lifts a cunning pass in behind. It doesn’t find Calvert-Lewin, but it was a nice idea and he’ll feel a bit better for it.
21 min I’d forgotten Ashley Young played with Sean Dyche at Watford. I bet he’s regaled the squad with some tales.
20 min Forest knock it about at the back, looking to draw Everton on to them. They look decent enough in possession, but can’t quite find the angles they need to get it forward progress the ball.
18 min Everton have had a fair few chances to stick a telling ball into the box and made nothing of them but now they have a free-kick out on the right … which Gomes still invites himself to take, with similar results. He whacks low directly into the wall, and is enduring something of a mare here.
17 min Williams does well to rob Gomes and looks set to attack the space in behind; Gomes hauls him down instantly.
15 min Williams is giving Forest an outlet, but when he marches down the right and crosses, Branthwaite is there to avert any danger.
14 min Everton win a free-kick down the left and can Gomes do something better with this than with his corner? Er, no, a tremendously poor effort drifting well over the Forest bar.
13 min McNeil slides a straight ball into the box for Calvert-Lewin, but Murillo is over quickly to avert danger.
11 min I know it’s early, but I wonder if this match might be settled by subs. Both sides have options, and I’d not be surprised to see them cancel each other out in the first hour. Forest have more pace about them, but Everton’s physicality dilutes that advantage.
10 min Given it’s down the left, Gomes goes over to take it and might now be wondering why he bothered, a miserable effort cleared at the front post.
9 min Another long ball into the box and Tarkowski is underneath it, Wood doing enough to send the ball behind; the corner yields another.
7 min There’s a lot of scuffling before the corner comes in, McNeil flighting towards the back stick and the elevation on the ball giving Forest time to get in the road and block the various lanes; the ball is cleared.
Updated
6 min Now then! A poor pass from Niakhate plays Danilo into trouble, Harrison springs and his cross is sent behind for a corner; can Everton make something of it?
5 min Forest are moving, Reyna finding Gibbs-White who finds Williams … who again can’t make anything happen, his shot blocked.
4 min But as I type, Gibbs-White bursts forward, flicks outside him to Williams … who can’t do much from there, his cross eventually arriving at Wood who falls into a volley that doesn’t mither Pickford.
3 min It’s been a slow start, the sides looking to get comfy on the ball before trying anything. So passes along the back four, humps forward, and not much else.
1 min I’ll miss Goodison when it goes, a proper old-skool football ground designed when all that mattered was being there. Not sure Archibald Leitch talked about sightlines and wifi.
1 min Off we go!
“Penny for the thoughts of Gonzalo Montiel,” says Russell Yong, “who, in less than two years, went from being a literal World Cup winner for Argentina and Europa League winner for Sevilla to terminal bench-watcher for a relegation-battling club at the bottom end of the Premier League. A massive case of ‘Whatever the hell happened there?’ for me.”
I guess we don’t pay enough attention to circumstances when evaluating players.
“Good morning from Pittsburgh!” begins Eric Peterson. “Enjoying (?) my breakfast before Everton makes me lose my appetite. Three goals scored in the last five games, requiring: a keeper’s dropped cross, a penalty kick, and a blocked long ball off a dawdling keeper. No matter how dreadful Forest may be on corner kicks, if an offense can make them look good, it’s Everton’s. Plus, Forest’s attacking quality is perfectly capable of making the Chelsea splurge look like a drop in the bucket. Gulp. (By the way, you see Roger Ramjet, I see Ivan Drago, Jr. “If he scores, he scores.”)
…and here they come!
Our teams are tunnelled…
Also going on: the Cup Final dress rehearsal, Spurs currently leading United 2-1.
Other hand, what is it with Amadou Onana? Lots of people are very high on him and I’m afraid to say I just don’t get it; nor, it seems does Sean Dyche, who’s left him out of so crucial a game. I know he’s big and can carry the ball, but I just don’t see the feet i’d want from a player in his position; please do inform me why I’m wrong.
Morgan Gibbs-White, then. I really, really like him – his energy, his engine, his imagination, his attitude; there aren’t many teams in the league who’d not be improved by his presence, and I wonder if he could develop into a proper box-to-boxer, rather than stick as an attacking midfielder.
Email! “Relegation did Manchester United no harm whatsoever,” says Duncan Edwards, “and I suspect – if the club’s finances weren’t in a poor state – that Everton could benefit from going down and popping back up in a much leaner and meaner playing condition. In the meantime, surely they’d benefit from someone persuading Jordan Pickford to wear a kit that fits, instead of the child’s size which I suspect he actually can’t get off.”
That would be a state of affairs. Everton have a new ground to pay for, so can’t really afford to drop down, and they don’t have players you’re certain are good enough to take them straight back up.
Nuno Espirito Santo doesn’t give much away, explaining that Dominguez was the player he thought most suitable for today’s match, but without giving detail as to why. His players are ready, he says.
Where is the game? Forest are poor at defending set-pieces and Everton, James Tarkowski in particular, are good at attacking them. If there’s no plan and even if there is, a narrow home win with the goal coming about in that manner looking not unlikely.
Otherwise, Everton will look to feed Paul Wilkinson Calvert-Lewin with crosses, and ask Abdoulaye Doucoure to hit the box too.
Forest, meanwhile, will want to play off Wood, the trident behind him of Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi and Reyna looking pretty nasty for a side so lowly. They’ll want their wide players to keep the width and look to play around Everton’s fairly one-paced midfield.
Chris Wood says forest have been working on getting better and becoming more consistent; they were good against Wolves last week. There aren’t too many games left so all they can do is focus on the things they can control; the deducted points don’t bother them. He knows the home crowd can be helpful but also notes that they can get on players’ backs, and that’s what Forest are trying to achieve.
Branthwaite, who looks not unlike an American cartoon, admits Monday’s capitulation was unacceptable, but the best thing about football is you soon have the opportunity to redeem yourself. He thinks the home crowd will get behind the team.
Forest, meanwhile, make two changes following the 2-2 draw with Wolves. At centre-back, Moussa Niakhate is in for Andrew Omobamidele, and Nicolas Dominguez replaces Ryan Yates at the base of midfield.
So back to those teams, then. Dyche makes four changes following the kicking at Chelsea, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Idrissa Gueye back from injury; Beto and Onana drop out. Otherwise, Jimmy Garner is also rusticated to the bench, with Andre Gomes coming in and Seamus Coleman has groin-kncack, so his spot goes to Ashley Young. Jarrod Branthwaite is fit enough to start.
Ah, here's Sean Dyche. Andy Hinchcliffe notes that Everton’s defensive record has worsened of late; Dyche explains that it’s hard to find the balance between attack and defence. Asked about Goodison keeping the side up the last two seasons, he says he likes to think the players were involved too.
Breaking news: he arrived while I was still removing; I have been duly chastised for my lack of organisation.
Right, I’m going to go and remove so chair covers to give to the dry cleaner, his visit imminent, because I value my life. After that, we’ll wonder what these teams mean.
Updated
Teams!
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Gomes, Harrison, Doucoure, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Virginia, Keane, Onana, Danjuma, Beto, Godfrey, Chermiti, Garner, Warrington.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Sels; Williams, Niakhate, Murillo, Aina; Danilo, Dominguez; Reyna, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood. Subs: Turner, Sangaré, Toffolo, Elanga, Yates, Origi, Montiel, Omobamidele, Rodrigo Ribeiro.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to what Guardian hilarities are calling the Deduction Derby!
Both Everton and Forest are in all sorts, 16th and 17th respectively and clear of the bottom two only because of the tremendous poverty of Burnley and Sheffield United. But Luton are only two points behind the former and one the latter, so with the gap to Brentford in 15th place now standing at five, one of the three will be relegated.
But which? Everton were horrendous against Chelsea on Monday night, their performance of such ineptitude that no one could’ve complained if they’d been relegated for it there and then. However the Goodison crowd has saved them in each of the last two seasons and, though their 32 goals in 32 games is the second-worst in the division, their defensive record of 48 conceded is bettered only by the top three, and no one would be surprised if Sean Dyche inspired them to just enough 1-0 home wins to secure their safety.
Forest, on the other hand, are a different kettle of incompetence. They’ve actually got a fair few decent players, particularly in attack, problem being sorting them out into a team is not easily done. But, though two of their last four games are against Manchester City and Chelsea, the other two are against the aforementioned Sheffield United and Burnley, so even if they lose today, they’ll still have scope to do the necessary.
Similar, though, is so of Everton, who must face both Liverpool Arsenal, but also have a home encounter with Sheffield United and an away trip to Luton – which might prove definitive. Or, put another way, it’s impossible to predict how this will shake out, which means plenty of fun for those of us with no skin in the game – and, for those who do, the experience of being alive. This is going to be gloriously awful!
Kick-off: 1.30pm
