Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - Just relief, that is all. The Everton season comes to an end with the club surviving relegation by two points on the last day of the season, the third instalment of ‘The Great Escape’ for the Toffees.

90+12’ - There’s the final whistle Blues! Everton are safe. It was a messy way to end the season, but nothing can take away the thrill of watching Doucoure bulge the Bournemouth net with that incredible shot. The Toffees have hung on to the lead and survive relegation.

90+10’ - Into the tenth minute of time added on here! Everton throw.

90+6’ - Ooh Everton break now, and Doucoure tries to go in on goal, blocked for a corner. The Blues can’t take advantage, ugh.
Final whistle at King Power, Leicester have won. Leeds have lost at Elland Road, they are officially relegated.

90+5’ - PICKFORD SAVES! Vina had a volley from outside the box and Pickford punches away, and the Blues can clear!

90+4’ - Onana turns Kelly and has a chance to run at goal and goes down instead, and ref waves play on. That was a waste.

90+2’ - Cherries almost break through, big block on the cross for Coady and he gets stamped on for his troubles. The Cherries were offside anyway.

90’ - There will be ten minutes added on.
Bournemouth freekick into the box, cleared. Now the Cherries have a foul throw and the Blues can kill more time.

87’ - Gray took his time coming off, and Simms goes into the box for the corner, overhit and it’s another corner. Garner to take the corner from the left, come back to him, he finds McNeil for the cross, Tarky can’t keep it down unfortunately. He runs back grinning wryly.

85’ - Now Iwobi cuts in from the left, his shot blocked and goes out the far post.
Gray is hobbling and will be going off, and now it’s Ellis Simms coming on!

83’ - Dangerous cross into the box for the Cherries, Mina does enough to dissuade Moore charging in.

81’ - McNeil clearance and Iwobi in daylight, and his cross into the box is way too long for Gray. No sense to hold on to the ball, ugh.

80’ - Tarky cuts out a dangerous ball into the Blues box, and now Everton can break! Onana’s lanky stride gets him into space, he finds Gray who dallies on the ball and then simply mishits the cross. Ooof.

77’ - Now Coady goes down heavily clearing the ball and Vina is booked.

72’- Pickford has taken his glove off and sat down, gets medical attention for a long, long time here. That is going to add a lot of time later on!

70’ - Chance for the Cherries, Coady clears off the line and Pickford parries it away too.
Now handbags! Solanke and Pickford are having a head-to-head away from the ball, and both will get yellow cards. Tarky just bodies Solanke away.

68’ - Senesi finally goes in the book, heaving Gray down who was running into a lovely ball from Garner.

63’ - Leicester have made it two now against West Ham, so Everton will have to do what they can to hold this lead because the Blues are safe now.

58’ - HOLY WHAT THE WHAT DOUCOURE LEATHERS THE BALL HOME FROM DISTANCE!!!!
Blues, I do not have the words to describe that incredible volley he hit, the goalie stood rooted to his spot there.

56’ - Brooks is sitting down again and the Goodison crowd are quite irritated at him. He’s coming off now, hoping the ref will keep adding some minutes on the clock there.

54’ - Dangerous counter from the Cherries, head-high cross through the box is very scary and Garner puts it out for a corner. He clears the ensuing corner strongly as well, and now Coady clears again. Bournemouth still coming at them and then Onana can shepherd the ball out.

49’ - Doucoure runs onto a deep ball but goes looking for a penalty against Lerma, nothing there.
Now Onana drives up the right sideline, and is fouled by Billing. Freekick taken by Gray, blocked and cleared. Ball back into the box, Gray gets his head to it and down, and then the goalie saves well low! Ooh, he should have scored there!

46’ - Second half underway.

Halftime Thoughts - The Blues have looked nervous as a whole, and it’s only gotten worse since Leicester have taken the lead. How long is Dyche going to give this before throwing the kitchen sink at it, as things stand Everton and Leeds are going down.

45+2’ - McNeil cross cut out for a corner, back into the box by Iwobi and the goalie punches away! Ooh, that was close, now another corner, Mina collapses in a heap and it’s a goalkick, ref not interested.
There’s the halftime whistle. This is not good Blues.

45’ - A rare Tarkowski mistake almost dooms the Blues! Loses the ball in possession and Bournemouth fashion a shooting chance, Mina blocks the attempt. Corner from the Blues’ left, three minutes to be added on.

43’ - All sorts of space for McNeil to cross and it’s utterly horrendous. Gray goes down again way too easily, has labeled himself at this point and will likely get nothing the rest of the game either.

41’ - Gray tries to go in on the Bournemouth defender clearing the ball, again wants a penalty but there was nothing there. Onana hits it from thirty-plus yards away and that was a waste.
Gray with another chance, his stabbed effort is cleared.

38’ - The Toffees look nervous, and now Bournemouth are holding the ball in the Blues’ half and win a corner. Everton caught napping on the setpiece routine and the ball flashes across the six-yard box and goes wide, whew.

36’ - A hush falls over Goodison, Leicester lead West Ham is the news filtering through. The fans are trying to rev the players again, but you can feel the nervousness ramping up.

34’ - Gueye tries another shot, parried away by the goalie, Gray goes in for the rebound and goes down, ref calls for a foul on the Bournemouth defender by Gray.

33’ - Doucoure breaks into the box, tackled by a pair of players and he asks for a handball, but VAR check is complete, nothing.

30’ - Half an hour in. Everton haven’t really posed much of a threat in the attacking half, what we suspected would happen with a three-man backline.
Everton move from left to right, Onana holds and then plays in Gueye who swivels to shoot, too central and the goalie parries away for a corner!
The corner is headed up by Mina but goes out.

24’ - Deep cross from McNeil, Onana towers over his man but cannot keep the ball down.
Great work on the ball from Garner and then gets stamped on by Senesi, Goodison howls but the ref doesn’t want to give a card for that.

22’ - Quick water break for the Blues as Bournemouth getting medical attention for a couple of players.

20’ - Coady is the central defender staying back, giving Mina an opportunity to go forward on the right while Tarky is stepping up on the left too.

19’ - Iwobi plays in McNeil, cross cut out for a corner on the left this time. Gray will take it, deep inswinger, Tarkowski heads it back across the goal and the Cherries can clear. Good idea that.

15’ - Mina finds Gray, his low cross fizzed into the box and deflected for the Blues first corner, from the right. McNeil inswinger, deflected away and Gray leathers that with the side of his boot, just wide of the top corner!

14’ - Not saying much because there hasn’t been much to talk about. The Cherries do look dangerous on the break as they commit men forward.

5’ - News from Elland Road, Tottenham lead! Harry Kane has scored to put Leeds behind.
Iwobi is on the left of midfield with Onana on the right, Doucoure a bit more advanced and Gueye in his holding role. Gana’s touches have been excellent so far, but Doucs not so much.

4’ - Gueye interception in the midfield again gives the Blues the ball in a positive area, but again Doucoure misplaces the ball. The Goodison crowd is jeering every move Bournemouth make.

2’ - Cagey to begin the game.

1’ - We are underway!

The Grand Old Lady is loud, the siren has sounded and Z-Cars has rung out, and it’s now time to do it on the pitch!

Starting Lineups - The stage is set for Everton’s biggest game in decades, and manager Sean Dyche has gone with a three-man backline with Alex Iwobi and Dwight McNeil as wingbacks. With no fit fullbacks in the side it’s not hard to see why he’s done this, but the concern is will this provide the Blues with enough attacking impetus? James Garner played right wingback for sometime against Wolves as well, so that might also be a possibility to keep Iwobi more central.

Lineups

Everton

Bournemouth

Preview

Everton, Leicester City, Leeds United - two of this trio will not be in the Premier League after today. The Toffees have a two point advantage over the chasing pair, but will need a win to ensure survival. A draw or a loss might not necessarily spell doom for the Goodison Park side, depending on how the Leicester and Leeds games go - see the full permutations and combinations of results to avoid relegation here.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchweek 38

Date and start time: Sunday, May 28th at 8:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m ET / 4:30 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 64°F/18°C, mostly cloudy, 24% chance of precipitation, 9 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: Peacock, USA Network, Universo - United States; Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Ultra HD - United Kingdom; Fubo - Canada, beIN Sports English, SuperSport Action Africa

Radio: evertontv, BBC Radio 5 Live

Live stream: Fubo, SKY GO Extra, nbcsports.com, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, Universo Now, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Hotstar VIP, JioTV, SuperSport Grandstand ROA

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Last Meeting

The Blues have played the Cherries twice already this season, in the league and in the League Cup, both times away at Bournemouth and lost the two games on a 7-1 aggregate with Frank Lampard clueless and in charge. Games between the two teams tend to be high-scoring affairs, with the Blues last win in this fixture at Goodison coming back in January 2019 with Kurt Zouma and Dominic Calvert-Lewin getting the two goals in a 2-0 victory.