A dull affair

Neither team really seemed particularly willing to try and win this match and it made for rather boring viewing. With both Everton and Arsenal naming a new manager, the players on each side seemed tentative and unwilling to take risks in front of their new bosses.

The manic pace at which Everton had been playing under Duncan Ferguson was nowhere to be found in this match. Instead they looked more like the team managed by Marco Silva, tentative, sloppy and error prone. Luckily for Everton they were playing an equally apprehensive Arsenal side. Maybe in previous seasons this Arsenal team would have put up two or three goals in this match, but instead both sides were trying their best not to lose.

In the end this was not a terrible result for Everton. The one point gained in this match pulls them further away from the bottom three at a point in the season where they are playing three games in seven days with a threadbare squad.

Paying it back to Kean

Duncan Ferguson’s decision to pull Moise Kean shortly after being subbed into Everton’s last match against Manchester United was a baffling decision. The highly touted youngster has already been somewhat sidelined since his arrival at Everton, but Ferguson’s decision couldn’t have helped Kean’s confidence.

Even thought his effect on the match was minimal it was good to see Ferguson allowing Kean to finish the match after being subbed on in the 80th minute. The 19 year old has thus far failed to live up to his potential, but there have certainly been flashes of the player he can become.

Getting Kean back on track has to be one of Carlo Ancelotti’s biggest goals as Everton manager. Over the past few years Everton have failed to get the best out of some of their promising youngsters. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tom Davies and Mason Holgate are success stories, but for every one of those you have a Ademola Lookman or Nikola Vlasic.

Ferguson’s tenure as caretaker

I’ve said before that I don’t think Big Dunc would have been the ideal choice to lead Everton moving forward. But it must be said that he did an admirable job in his four games in charge of the club. Grabbing five points from three matches against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal is nothing to scoff at and it leaves Ancelotti in a much better position to finish out the season.

Points aside, Ferguson also helped bring an energy to Goodison Park that had largely been lacking under Marco Silva. This season may be one worth forgetting, but the scenes of Ferguson jumping up and down on the touchline in that Chelsea match are ones that many will remember for a long time.