If the future ownership of Everton is a confused picture, there have been few doubts about this being a season struggle against relegation.
Amid a highly welcome first win of the season were many signs that their thin squad may have enough to survive, and that whoever their new owners end up becoming, they might have a Premier League going concern on their hands.
If Everton are to struggle, on the balance of their comprehensive win in west London, then chances are Brentford, already short of Ivan Toney, now wracked by an injury crisis, will be down there too. Their home form has deserted them, and their energy levels are failing to deliver the results of the past two seasons.
As dusk descended, Everton strolled into a decisive lead, Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring their third, the portents for Brentford became distinctly gloomy. An opponent previously sapped in confidence had won rather easily at the Community Stadium. Though in raw, energetic signing Beto, the leadership of the inspirational James Tarkowski, and a midfield trio of Amadou Onana, Abdoulaye Doucouré and Idrissa Gueye, perhaps there was always sufficient quality unless injuries intervene, as they already have for Thomas Frank’s team.
Brentford must do without the excellent Rico Henry for the season, the left-back struck down by an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Along with Ben Mee’s more temporary absence, a defensive reshuffle was required and Frank’s options were further reduced when a pre-match mishap ruled out Kevin Schade, bringing Keane Lewis-Potter into the forward line. Just 40 seconds in, the former Hull player’s cutting run through Everton’s midfield forced a toiling Ashley Young into a bookable foul.
To counter Brentford’s midfield zip and raiding full-backs, Sean Dyche had slapped five players – and considerable muscle – across the middle. James Garner’s neater distribution replacing a soloist in Arnaut Danjuma was the only change from last week’s submissive loss to Arsenal.
Everton began far more on the front foot and soon went a goal up. Tarkowski, booed by unforgiving Brentford fans for forcing his 2016 move to Burnley by refusing to play, nodded down Garner’s swinging cross down for Doucouré to slash in on the half-volley.
They might have doubled their lead when Beto flicked on for Dwight McNeil to fire wide. The lone Portuguese striker was a true menace to that reshuffled backline, and a pressured Ethan Pinnock presented Vitalii Mykolenko with a miscued clearance the Ukrainian failed to convert. Next, Doucouré almost repeated the brilliance of his goal by taking down Tarkowski’s lofted pass and crashing off the angle. Free-flowing, almost swaggering, this was surely the best Everton had played all season.
And yet, within moments of that Doucouré chance, Brentford had their equaliser, three Everton players missing their chance to clear the ball before, from the right-hand side of the area, Mathias Jensen fired beyond Jordan Pickford, his shot coming off the post and in.
Such a setback sent Everton, beyond Beto, who remained threatening, back into submission mode as Brentford took control. Just before half-time, Lewis-Potter, at the back post, narrowly missed his connection with Bryan Mbeumo’s ball across an unguarded Everton penalty area.
Everton began the second half with similar intentions to the first, the away fans audibly encouraged by the ball mostly being down their end. That Brentford retained a latent threat on the counter was the worry for Dyche and his similarly tonsured assistants, Steve Stone and Ian Woan, with whom he remained in constant discussion on the sidelines.
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Beto flashed a header wide from another prompting Tarkowski chip but that was his last contribution, as Calvert-Lewin came on.
Frank had meanwhile reconfigured his defence into a trio by bringing on Kristoffer Ajer and Frank Onyeka but a lack of organisation at a set piece – usually Brentford’s strong point – proved their undoing. The boos ringing out signalled that it was Tarkowski who had climbed highest, powering over two markers to nod McNeil’s arrowing corner downwards.
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The third almost followed when Aaron Hickey was forced to hack behind after Garner’s run down the left flank but the former Manchester United youngster was soon to have his decisive say.
Robbing an idling Nathan Collins, he ran on to supply Calvert-Lewin for a goal taken with considerable confidence considering the one-time England striker could only score twice in the entirety of last season.