Key events
38 minutes: Chermiti gets hurt attacking Vitaly Janelt with a forceful challenge. There is a pause in the game while he receives treatment. He's been eating off the scraps in this first half, but you can't fault his eagerness or desperation to impress in this rare opportunity to get some playing time.
36 minutes: Ivan Toney tries his luck from distance but his shot is blocked by Tarkowski. He Brentford The striker takes a free kick while trying to recover the broken ball. Pickford sends the long ball to Chermiti, who is again outplayed by Pinnock. The young, inexperienced striker simply does not have the same physical presence as Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
35 minutes: Everton corner. McNeil picks out Tarkowski at the far post, who heads the ball towards the goal. Brentford clear.
33 minutes: Dwight McNeil makes a low cross into the area. Brentford penalty area from the left but fails to beat the first man. That man? Nathan Collins, who comes clean.
30 minutes: Jack Harrison, looking every inch the cheeky wing commander with his hair neatly combed with Brylcreem, runs down the right wing with the ball at his feet, but runs into a solid wall of resistance in the form of Kristoffer Ajer.
29 minutes: Chermiti forces Pinnock into a mistake and wins a corner for his team. The next inswinger is cleared at the far post by the man who gave the corner in the first place.
27 minutes: James Garner advances towards Brentford territory with the ball at their feet but the visitors soon regain possession. This is quite bleak for the neutral observer, as both sides are fighting to retain the ball.
25 minutes: Brentford winning a free kick wide on the left, making it short and then sending a cross towards Ivan Toney. Pickford takes the ball from the sky and organizes a quick counterattack, which quickly comes to nothing. The locals continue to throw speculative balls in the direction of their young Portuguese striker, Chermiti, but he fails to reach any.
23 minutes: Everton win a free kick about 10 meters inside their own half for a foul by Wissa on Tarkowski. Pickford throws the ball towards the edge of the field. Brentford penalty area, but is unable to identify his intended target, Brantwaithe.
21 minutes: A low ball from Kristoffer Ajer crossed the face of the Everton The goal is blocked and cleared by Tarkowski.
20 minutes: Jarrad Brantwaithe blocks what looked like a sure goal after Vitaly Janelt sent a kick through Tarkowski's legs and straight into the path of Matthias Jensen, who pulled the trigger.
17 minutes: An advertisement on the Goodison Park PA warns supporters to remain seated and says anyone “persistently standing” will face repercussions of some kind. It seems unnecessary as very little has happened in the first 15 minutes to get supporters on both sides out of their seats and on their feet.
16 minutes: Pinnock sends a five-iron down the left flank, trying to spot Bryan Mbeumo. James Tarkowski is the first to receive the ball and orders the back to Everton.
14 minutes: Brentford He wins a throw-in deep in Everton territory and finally gets a cross to the far post, where Pickford clears under pressure from Nathan Collins.
12 minutes: Tarkowski plays a low ball to the feet of Chermniti, who has his back to the goal and tries to spin around Ethan Pinnock. Not today, young man: the striker falls to the motionless man-mountain behind him, but does not receive a free kick.
11 minutes: Jordon Pickford runs out of his area to receive a ball over his defense that Yoane Wissa was chasing. He Everton The goalkeeper heads the ball in a style similar to Kevin De Bruyne's excellent headed goal against Brighton on Thursday night.
9 minutes: Doucoure plays a diagonal cross towards McNeill on the left wing, but the Everton winger cannot keep the ball in play and takes it for Brentford throw-in inside their own field.
6 minutes: Dwight McNeil receives a cross from the right and, from a tight(ish) angle, sends the ball across the goal. Chermiti lunges for the ball near the far post but, despite stretching all his tendons, he fails to get the crucial touch.
4 minutes: Jensen sends the ball into the mixer and Jarrad Brantwaithe misses his header. Everton he finally cleared the ball and Tarkowski took the honors. There is a VAR check to detect a possible handball by Abdoulaye Doucoure in his own penalty area, but replays show that the ball hit him in the face.
3 minutes: Jarrad Branthwaite is forced to concede a corner under pressure from Mathias Jensen's harassment.
3 minutes: Pickford throws another long ball towards Chermiti, who is beaten this time by Ethan Pinnock.
2 minutes: in his first first division At the start of the game for Everton, Youssef Chermiti goes on a futile chase down the left wing trying to regain possession of a ball thrown in his direction from deep. Kristoffer Ajer arrives first.
Everton-Brentford leaves…
1 minute: Everton kick-off, as their skipper decided to do so after winning the toss. Abdoulaye Doucoure gets the ball going and returns it straight to Jordan Pickford.
Not so long now: James Tarkowski and Christian Norgaard lead the sides through the tunnel and up the stairs as the Z Cars theme song blares over the Goodison Park public address system. The start is only a couple of minutes away.
Sean Dyche: In an interview with Sky Sports, the Everton The manager explains that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is ill and has suffered a couple of knocks. Vitaly Mykolenko is out with an ankle injury from which he “will need a little time to recover.”
About the similarities between Brentford and Everton's form heading into this match: “I've just spoken to Thomas and he's someone I respect and know reasonably well. We were saying that one of the puzzles is how we both hadn't won games for long periods despite pretty decent performances and it's just one of those things you have to get out of. “We have both done it our way and now we have put it aside, we want to face it and try to win the game.”
The foot of the table: Sheffield United's defeat at St James' Park means they are relegated from the table. first divisionwhile a draw for Burnley at Old Trafford leaves them second-to-last with 24 points, one behind Luton, who lost to Wolves.
Everton are eight points clear of the relegation zone and a win tonight will ensure their safety. Even a draw should be enough, given their superior goal difference over the four teams below them.
Thomas Frank: “The most important thing when comparing this season to last is that we have lost too many games and when you don't win, you don't get that little bit of sugar, that little natural feedback to the brain that says it all. “The hard work is paying off,” said the Brentford manager in an interview with Sky Sports yesterday.
“A big thing is to watch the processes, watch the performances, watch how the players are developing, because they are still developing even if we are losing. Losing is just a result on the scoreboard and performances are the most important thing.”
Tonight's game officials
Referee: Darren England.
Assistants: Simon Bennett and Dan Robathan.
Fourth referee: Dean Whitestone.
VAR: Miguel Oliver.
VAR Assistant: Ricardo West.
Those teams: Dominic Calvert-Lewin is not in the Everton matchday squad, presumably not having recovered from the illness he suffered in midweek. In Beto's absence, his place is taken by 19-year-old Portuguese centre-forward Youssef Chermiti, who is yet to score a goal for the club in his first season on Merseyside. Vitaly Mykolenko is injured and is not in the matchday squad. His place in the side is taken by Ashley Young.
Brentford make two changes from the team that defeated Luton last weekend. Ivan Toney and Christian Noorgard enter the team, while Mikkel Damsgard and Keane Lewis-Potter move to the substitutes' bench.
Everton-Brentford lineups
Everton: Pickford, Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young, Harrison, Gueye, Garner, McNeil, Doucoure, Chermiti.
Substitutes: Keane, Onana, Danjuma, Virginia, André Gomes, Lonergan, Warrington, Hunt, Metcalfe.
Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Pinnock, Reguilon, Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa.
Substitutes: Valdimarsson, Schade, Jorgensen, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Roerslev, Yarmolyuk.
Early team news
Long-term Brentford Absentees Josh Dasilva, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry and Ben Mee are out for the rest of the season, while on-loan striker Neal Maupay cannot play in this match as it is against his parent club. England hopeful Ivan Toney faces a late fitness test after a brief spell out with a hip injury.
Beto gets lost Everton after being withdrawn under concussion protocols, while Seamus Coleman and Lewis Dobbin are also absent through injury. Vitaly Mykolenko is unlikely to be fit as he recovers from an ankle injury, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is also a doubt after playing through illness to help put Liverpool to the sword on Wednesday night. evening.
Premier League: Everton-Brentford
Almost mathematically safe from relegation thanks to a midweek derby victory which almost certainly shattered the title hopes of bitter rivals Liverpool, Everton's players, manager and fans are likely to be in an extremely jubilant mood at Goodison Park tonight. They welcome a Brentford team who will be equally upbeat, having guaranteed themselves another season in the top flight with their emphatic victory over the city of Luton last Saturday.
It remains to be seen whether Everton's players will be able to scale similarly dizzying heights to those on Wednesday night against significantly less hyped and hated opponents, and Brentford's players arrive having had the benefit of a midweek break. There's little more than pride at stake for both sides, but we'll find out how prepared they are for the challenge at 5:30pm (BST).
