On a Bonfire Night that promised much for Everton in their final home fixture before the World Cup break, Blues fans were ultimately left disappointed by a flat performance that resembled a rocket that failed to launch.
The only sparks flying came from the boots of Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes in the shape of a couple of well-placed finishes that enabled Leicester City to climb out of the relegation zone for the first time since August and above their hosts in the table on goal difference.
Blues boss Frank Lampard declared before this game that with a mostly clean bill of health, he now had the strongest squad at his disposal since he came to the club but despite deploying 16 of them in a single fixture for only the second time – the other occasion being the previous game here when he was able to deploy them in a 3-0 romp against Crystal Palace - nobody in the home side was capable of exploding into life.
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Everton were left to rue big goalscoring opportunities for Alex Iwobi and Dominic Calvert-Lewin – both of whom should have found the net either side of the break, but in truth the Foxes carved them open all too readily and all too often.
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, whose final game in charge of the Reds came at this ground, recorded his first Premier League victory at Goodison Park at the ninth time of asking.
And on a night on which they could have climbed above neighbours Liverpool and into the top half with a win, the result leaves Everton now nervously looking over the shoulders in a bottom half of what has become a very tight table ahead of the Qatar-enforced sabbatical.
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