Before
We've all been floating in a balloon of joy since the Chelsea match but we'll have to be careful tonight as Everton are just the kind of side to give us a puncture. I'm glad that Fellaini won't be playing for them as in the corresponding game last season he was everywhere; heading away in defence, winning the ball in midfield and finally being in the right place to smash home their late equalizer. There's been a lot of talk about which strike partnership we should play and I'm all for starting with Gyan, of course, and Welbeck as a reward to the latter for his great performance against Chelsea and then bringing Bent on for the second-half or later. Everton have done okay away from home with one win and three draws but have only managed five goals on their travels. I think we'll beat them but it's going to be tight and my prediction is 2-1.

After
To be honest I was happy to get a draw in the end. This was a great game of football and both sides went at it hammer and tongs all the way through. I watched the game at the Sun Inn in Covent Garden in the company of three fellow fans I hadn't met before and we managed to persuade the manageress to turn the sound up after it had looked like my sole presence wasn't enough to win her over. Anyway, as I'd been working till nearly 7 o'clock I'd missed out on the news that both Gyan and Bramble were out. It took six minutes for Everton to find a lack of harmony in our enforced centre back partnership when a great cross by Baines found Cahill ghosting in between the two of them to head home. He must love playing us as he usually seems to score. Anyway, we battled back well and after a great run down the right Bolo crossed low for Welbeck to slot it into the right hand corner. A loud shout from across the way showed that we weren't the only members of the faithful in the pub. We were getting little change in the air from the Everton back four and they showed a cunning ability to win a corner and a throw-in by back-heeling it off one of our players. That's one to remember, lads.

I was happy to go in at 1-1 but the second-half took off in the same manner and at the hour-mark it was anybody's game. We went ahead with around twenty minutes to go when a great cross into the box by Bardo, I think, was nodded in by Welbeck. This produced intense Everton pressure and just after they'd brought on Beckford and the massive Yakubu they went ahead fortuitously when an Arteta shot was deflected past Gordon by Bardo's outstretched foot. Each side could have won it in stoppage-time (not quite sure how they found four minutes of it) with Welbeck shooting just wide and Beckford thankfully putting a great chance over the bar in the dying seconds. I suppose 2-2 was a fair result given the balance of play with both sides having about a dozen decent goal attempts. All in all it was a decent performance by us with only Gordon looking decidedly wobbly at times and Everton showed a lot of quality throughout. We know that no match in the Premier League is easy but I'm happy that our next three games are against Wolves, West Ham and Fulham and surely we can manage a win or two against such opposition.

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