Everton 0-0 Brentford: Toffees held to goalless draw by 10-man visitors

Everton’s treacherous run of fixtures in December sees them face Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City and they would have wanted to head into that sequence of games in some sort of form.

But instead, Dyche’s goal-shy team lack that killer instinct, entering that make-or-break period having not scored in their past three games and now failing to find the net in half of their 12 league matches this season.

The out-of-form Calvert-Lewin looks bereft of any confidence and extended his barren run in front of goal to eight games, while the returning Dwight McNeil should have done better when he sliced through the centre of the Brentford defence but screwed wide from the centre of the box.

Substitute Beto nearly won it for the hosts four minutes into stoppage time when Iliman Ndiaye’s knockdown fell to him eight yards out, but a low shot was brilliantly blocked by centre-back Ethan Pinnock.

The Blues are competing in their final season at Goodison Park before moving to their new stadium but it is proving to be a joyless farewell at this stage, winning just one of their six home games so far.

Depleted Brentford, meanwhile, defended robustly to hold on to their first clean sheet of the season having lost their five previous league away games in 2024-25.

They head into a busy fixture period boosted by the delayed debut of £30m club-record signing Thiago, who came off the bench in the second half after suffering a knee injury during pre-season.