Jarrad Branthwaite tells real story that should be told about Everton's season so far

Jarrad Branthwaite believes the defining storyline of Everton’s season should be the progress wrought by Sean Dyche as the club heads into a quieter January.

The draw in the FA Cup at Crystal Palace marked the end of an intense run of fixtures across the festive season - one of frustration as Everton fell to a series of defeats.

That slump was arrested at Selhurst Park and the replay provides another opportunity to get back to winning ways. But with a break before the Premier League visit to Goodison Park of Aston Villa, and then 16 days until the next league outing, the table pauses with Everton close to the bottom three.

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For Branthwaite, who believed Everton deserved to win on Thursday, the recent run without a win should not dominate the narrative of the coming weeks. Instead, he said, the wider perspective is more important - one that shows a side that, but for a points deduction, would be comfortably positioned in mid-table.

Speaking after the Palace match, Branthwaite expressed disappointment at not finding a first win in five and added his own frustration to the growing calls of anger from within and around Everton over the decisions going against the club. He branded the controversial sending off of Dominic Calvert-Lewin a “terrible decision”. But for all the difficulties a congested fixture list brought to Dyche’s thin squad, and the contentious calls making life harder for the players on the pitch, Branthwaite was positive about the position Everton are in heading into 2024.

He said: “What we have got to focus on is how far we have come from the start of the season and