Things are beginning to get a little twitchy for Nottingham Forest and Sean Dyche. Forest have made strides under Dyche but after a miserable defeat by Everton, his previous club, it is now three straight losses and a bruising run of January fixtures await on the horizon.
Happy new year? Five of their next six matches are away including a trip to West Ham, now only four points behind Forest in the table. For David Moyes and his threadbare squad, this was a triumph, goals by the former Forest loanee James Garner and Thierno Barry earning a deserved victory.
Forest only had themselves to blame for a lethargic display against an Everton side that arrived without a victory or even a goal since the reverse fixture at Hill Dickinson Stadium almost four weeks ago. That day Everton earned a 3-0 win, a Nikola Milenkovic own goal inside two minutes setting the tone, and here it did not take too much longer for them to seize the lead. After a forgettable opening, Everton produced the first moment of quality; Dwight McNeil, a January target for Dyche, slipping Garner in with a cute pass. Garner wriggled goalside of Morgan Gibbs-White and found the far corner to open the scoring against the club he spent 18 months on loan, clinching promotion via the Championship playoffs in 2022. Garner refused to celebrate.
Jack Grealish, who missed last weekend’s stalemate at Burnley through illness, returned to action from the bench but Moyes said he would have preferred not to use the Manchester City loanee. Moyes named four academy players plus two goalkeepers as substitutes and, without 10 of his squad owing to injury and the Africa Cup of Nations, the Everton manager said he will likely recall the 18-year-old midfielder Harrison Armstrong from his loan spell at Preston. “It is one of the team’s best [away wins] because of what we had available to us,” Moyes said.
Dyche changed things at the interval, introducing Douglas Luiz in place of Nicolás Domínguez and the substitute registered a fierce but hopeful strike from distance. Igor Jesus poked an effort wide after an Everton clearance pinballed in the box but frustration reigned, with Everton happy to stifle Forest. Moyes covered his face after James Tarkowski failed to make the most of a rare opening. A few minutes later a Forest move typical of their performance; Neco Williams squared the ball towards the penalty spot but Taiwo Awoniyi was too laboured and Dilane Bakwa too slow, allowing Merlin Röhl, on his first start on loan from Freiburg, to intervene.
Forest had 70% of possession and completed almost three times as many passes as their opponents but struggled to penetrate an organised Everton defence. Jake O’Brien and Tarkowski proved a meaner match for Igor Jesus than Rúben Dias and Josko Gvardiol. Oleksandr Zinchenko registered Forest’s first shot on target on 44 minutes, his whipped free-kick forcing Jordan Pickford into an awkward two-handed save but they never truly tested the England goalkeeper. “We had very dominant stats but stats don’t win games,” said Dyche, whose team were jeered off at full time. “I’ve just spoken to the players about it. But that expectation should be here.”
Grealish would arrive from the bench but it was Garner, by some distance the best player on the pitch, who created Everton’s second on 79 minutes. Garner jinked clear of Murillo and promptly punished the Forest centre-back for charging out of position. Garner picked out Barry on the edge of the 18-yard box and the Frenchman trapped the ball with his first touch and then beat John Victor with his next.
Forest supporters headed for the exits as Barry, aptly, in the city home to Robin Hood, pulled out a bow and arrow celebration. Everton fans, not in quite the same hurry to depart, were understandably determined to savour victory. “Rightly so,” Moyes said afterwards. “It was some result to come here with such a depleted side and get a win.”
