Everton analysis - Sean Dyche's side stalled by VAR flaw as injury blow continues to hit hard

Everton continue to get the thin end of the wedge with the Premier League when it comes to both the major and what some would see as ‘minor’ decisions and it’s probably fair to say that on that score, beleaguered Blues aren’t feeling much better about competition chiefs after their frustration in north London.

Sean Dyche’s side might have already wiped out the deficit imposed upon them through the biggest sporting sanction in the 135-year history of English top flight football in the shape of their 10-point deduction but there still seems to be one rule for the ‘Sky Big Six’ and another for the rest when it comes to those marginal calls that can swing close encounters against the division’s half dozen richest clubs, those outfits who were willing to compromise the game’s pyramid and join the original breakaway European Super League but are now predictably distancing themselves from revised plans.

This was Everton’s first Premier League defeat outside of Liverpool since the 4-0 capitulation over four months ago on August 20 but when the only other loss on their travels in between came across Stanley Park on October 21, they were hampered by a clear case of inconsistency when Ashley Young was sent off for two bookings but Ibrahima Konate was not.

Here, Dominic Calvert-Lewin was denied a first goal in nine games because the man who set him up, Andre Gomes, was adjudged after a VAR check to have fouled Emerson Royal before passing the ball to the striker. It was a decision that sent tongues wagging with retired Merseyside official Mike Dean describing it as “small contact” and “very soft.”

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