Thierno Barry continued his strong scoring form with a second-half equalizer to earn Everton a 1-1 draw at home against Leeds.
Barry, who had scored just once in his first 18 league games, netted his fourth goal in five top-flight games in the 76th minute.
Everton failed to find a winner as Idrissa Gueye hit the bar just two minutes after Barry’s goal. The Toffees’ winless run has extended to five games as they move into the top half of the table.
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Tierno Barry promoted to Everton
Meanwhile, 16th-placed Leeds are six points above the drop and have won just one away league win this season.
It was a point for David Moyes’ side that looked unlikely at half-time. Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher says Everton make Leeds “look like Real Madrid”.
James Justin gave the visitors the lead in the 28th minute after crossing from Anton Starc.
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Leeds took a deserved lead through a James Justin goal.
Six minutes later, Dominic Calvert-Lewin almost tormented Everton when he hit the bar against the Reds in his first game since joining Leeds on a free transfer last summer.
Everton were booed after failing to hit a shot in the first half, while Leeds had 10 attempts in the first half.
Moyes responded with two first-half substitutions, bringing on Jarrad Branthwaite and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to defend Leeds’ three, which paid off well.
The home side were left shocked when Barry pounced on Gueye’s cross to deny Leeds back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.
Moyes: Substitutes made the difference
everton manager David Moyes speaking sky sports:
“I was really disappointed with the way we played in the first half and generally the way we set things up didn’t work as well as we would have liked. The second half was much better. We held on.
“It didn’t seem like we were going to score a goal, but we ended up scoring one goal and it was a little disappointing that we couldn’t score the second goal.”
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Idrissa Gueye smashed over the bar for Everton to make it 1-1.
When changing halftime: “I hoped we didn’t play worse than we did in the first half. Leeds had the ball first and I thought we didn’t compete well, it wasn’t like us. Overall, we were a little bit lacking something to make a difference.
“We had a lot of players coming back and none of them were fit to start, maybe Jarrad (Branthwaite) and Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall) went a little early, but we had to try something and make a difference and those guys came in and made a difference.”
Thierno Barry’s form: “As a centre-forward, you have to score goals, and he didn’t do that from the beginning. His play has become better. He is adapting more and more to us. His training is better. It’s not always the answer, but if you train well and get used to it, you have a better chance of scoring goals.”
Farke: We should have buried the game in the first half.
Leeds president Daniel Farke speaking sky sports:
“It’s a good result for a promoted team. It’s definitely a good result to come to Everton, especially in the second half when it’s a difficult place.”
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Leeds took a deserved lead through a James Justin goal.
“It’s a bit disappointing because we weren’t far away from winning. I think the first half was a really good performance. We were very dominant, we didn’t give ourselves any chances and we should have scored a second goal.”
“We should have buried the game in the first half.
“It was always clear that they would feature at some point in this game because of the quality Everton can bring.
“They had more possession in the second half but intuitively we were still in control of the ball. Carl Darlow made one good save, hitting the crossbar, but apart from that it was just a goal.”
“Overall, it was a good performance from the players and a good point for us.”
Can Leeds cause problems for Arsenal?
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher has this to say about whether Leeds can beat Arsenal at Elland Road on Saturday:
“How much trouble will Arsenal cause them? They went to Everton, a team of similar quality, and won 1-0.
“If Arsenal go to Leeds and win, it might be because of the odd goal. They won’t score many goals. They rely on set pieces.”
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Dominic Calvert-Lewin hits the net against his former club.
“I think that fact shows that Leeds should stay in the game as long as possible even if they are down 1-0. The atmosphere helped them win a lot of big scalps. I think it will be a really tough game for Arsenal.”
“I expect them to win, but only by the odd goal.”
Opta Stats: Everton remain winless against newly promoted side.
- Everton are winless against newly promoted sides in the Premier League this season (D3 L1) but are unbeaten at home in their last six games (W4 D2).
- While more teams have lost more Premier League games than Leeds United (1) since the start of December, only Aston Villa (22), Manchester City (21), Arsenal (20), Manchester United and Fulham (both 17) have picked up more points than 15 games in that period.
- Everton have conceded nine goals via crosses in the Premier League this season. This season, they tied for the most wins with West Ham United.
- Everton’s Tierno Barry, who failed to score once in his first 15 Premier League shots this season, has scored five of his last 10 efforts.
- Since the start of December, the only players to have scored more Premier League goals than Tierno Barry (5) are Ollie Watkins (7), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (7) and Erling Haaland (6).
