Gueye and McNeil drag Everton closer to safety and leave Forest in the mire

It was three valuable points gained for Everton and no one can take them away after they defeated Nottingham Forest in the deduction derby. While lawyers plot the two clubs’ appeals, the talking was done on the pitch amid a backdrop of financial breaches and the relegation battle.

Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil settled the result with long-range shots that went in off the post to boost Everton’s chances of staying up and putting Forest in further peril. It was error-strewn and short on quality, potentially explaining why two Everton midfielders were afforded plenty of space to pick their spots.

Everton and Forest are brothers-in-arms, as they fight points deductions after breaching profitability and sustainability rules. That has exacerbated their positions, the Toffees are eight points worse off than their on-pitch performance suggests, while Forest have been docked four – enough to put them in serious danger of relegation.

Starting the day in 16th and 17th emphasised the importance of the occasion for two teams who had won three league games between them in 2024. Within 10 minutes there was frustration inside Goodison Park as the fans did not feel the players were lumping the ball into the box quickly enough. There is a sense the supporters are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, with Sean Dyche their kidnapper. Every misplaced cross or pass was derided in the stands as tension grew, even if the Everton legal team might have a bigger say than Andre Gomes’s right boot after three awful early set-pieces.

Dyche’s methods do have merits. Vitalii Mykolenko’s cross was headed out by Murillo to Idrissa Gueye 25 yards from goal, allowing the Everton midfielder to take a touch and aim for the bottom corner via the post. It did not look like there was sufficient power in the shot but it defeated Matz Sels to his right. The groans were replaced with cheers and Everton fans were starting to look up rather than down.

Forest were the more aesthetically pleasing and whenever Morgan Gibbs-White took control of the ball there was hope in the away end that something would be created. Neco Williams and Callum Hudson-Odoi both had good chances prior to the opener but Jordan Pickford was untroubled.

Chris Wood has been reinvigorated under Nuno Espirito Santo, scoring four in his previous five matches. He should have added to his tally when Gibbs-White volleyed into the ground in the direction of the striker rather than the net as intended, allowing Wood to take aim from two yards out, only for Pickford to repel the ball.

Hudson-Odoi and Ashley Young were at the centre of two potential penalty decisions either side of the break. The first came when the winger’s cross struck the Young’s arm but the proximity meant neither Anthony Taylor nor VAR intervened. In the second half, Hudson-Odoi looked to get inside the full-back to reach a Nicolas Dominguez pass, only to go down under a challenge from Young. There was some doubt over the legality of the tackle but Taylor and VAR agreed that the evidence was insufficient.

After the game Forest tweeted: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”

That and Gibbs-White failing to capitalise on a James Tarkowski mistake, sending his shot wide when through on goal, was adding to Forest’s frustrations as they began to dominate proceedings without creating anything of note.

Instead Everton killed the game off when McNeil was afforded space from a similar position to where Gueye scored, albeit at the other end. He took a touch and rattled a low drive in off the post. This shot was far more ferocious than his colleague’s in the first half and Sels could not have done anything.

With five games to go, and a fixture list including Brentford, Luton and Sheffield United, not to mention the deduction appeal, Everton look close to safety. Forest’s appeal might be more telling, especially with a match fewer to play and a point separating them from Luton in the final relegation spot. They will need to improve on the pitch to maintain their status without the help of lawyers.