Everton 1 Norwich 1

This match is the typical game of two halves. Everton dominated the game in the first half but Norwich forced their way back into the game in the second half. The 1-1 draw ensured that Norwich continued their good run but I am not so sure that Everton will be happy with their point as they arguably deserved more.

Coleman was dropped from the squad and Jagielka moved to right back in his absence. Coleman had come in for a bit of stick from the fans after conceding an unnecessary penalty against Reading and Moyes might have felt that he was not in the right mood to play in the game. Also without Fellaini due to suspension, Moyes tweaked his standard formation slightly. He deviated from his 4-4-1-1 and most of the time, the formation looked more like a 4-4-2, with Naismith right up there beside Jelavic. This attacking move paid off in the 11th minute. Everton was very patient in their play, passing the ball around till they found space to work in. Hitzlsperger spotted Oviedo's run and sent a nice chipped pass over and Oviedo chested the ball past Whitaker too easily before sending a reverse pass to Naismith. Naismith was unmarked and easily smashed the ball into the roof of the net. Everton still really missed the presence of Fellaini though. No one seemed to be able to get on the end of crosses and most of Everton's later attacks came resulted in shots from outside the box by Osman who had picked the ball up after Norwich defenders headed the crosses away. The other source of attack for Everton came from Baines, who made two good runs from near the half way line straight into the penalty box but had his shot saved by Ruddy. One approach they did not utilise much was the runs of Jelavic. Jelavic constantly made runs between and behind the central and side defenders but there was a lack of Everton players who noticed his run and no one provided him the pass that would set him clear on goal. He cut a frustrated figure in the end and I am sure that he will be yearning for the return of Fellaini who works so well with him.

Norwich also went for a quite attacking approach from the off. Their primary tactic was to send long balls to the big target of Grant Holt. With Snodgrass playing narrow, there were 3 players(including Grant and Hoolahan) around the ball when it was pumped forward. When Everton attacked, they tended to leave only the two central defenders at the back and against the long balls of Norwich, Distin and Heitinga had no one to head their clearances to. Thus, Hoolahan and Snodgrass were always able to pick up the loose balls. From there, the midfielders will try to chip the ball over Everton's high line for Holt to run onto. This resulted in the high offside count of 9 but the move came off finally in the 58th minute when Holt timed his run to perfection but Howard managed to pull off a lucky save. The second half saw Norwich vastly improved only because of their extra pressing and they broke the rhythm of Everton's passing. They managed to get on the ball more and the extra pressure paid dividends through a Bassong header from a free kick right at the death. I will have to say that I do not agree with the free kick though. It seemed that Baines did not foul the player but the Norwich player slipped instead. Bad refereeing once again.

Everton will feel they deserved the win after the number of chances they had but they will be rueing those that they missed, especially when Jelavic and Naismith were clear on goal but Naismith fluffed his pass/shot. In the end, Hughton's brave approach showed snatched a point for his team instead.