Through 45 minutes at Goodison Park the scoreline read Everton two and Sunderland one, a very fair reflection of the two team's play in the first half. Sunderland managed a chance and a half in the opening stanza, but Everton were the far superior team and thanks to a brace by Jermaine Beckford have the scoreboard to corroborate their dominance.
Everton Vs. Sunderland: Toffees Take 2-0 Lead Into Halftime
It was actually the Black Cats who had the first chance of the game when Kieran Richardson got in behind the Everton defense, but his angled shot managed to miss the post by an astonishing 10 yards. From there, Everton grabbed control of the match and began to keep the ball for long stretches.
Not long after Richardson's miss Beckford found the net. A poor clearance at the back by Sunderland put the ball on Leon Osman's foot in the attacking half and the Englishman found Beckford streaking towards goal. Beckford did well to control the ball and chip the keeper and while the ball took a deflection off of Titus Bramble, the ball was always bound for the goal.
Just because they were a goal up Everton showed no signs of packing it in. The Toffees continued to attack, but they made a habit of misfiring in the final third with passes that just missed their intended target or touches that ruined their chances at goal. They were almost made to pay for that when a lovely sequence by Sunderland set up Stephane Sessegnon, but Sessegnon's blast was barely tipped by Tim Howard onto the bar and away.
As the half wore on the Toffees continued to assert their dominance with the exception of the one instance that required Howard to come up with a save on Sessegnon. Even a 1-0 halftime lead would not have done justice to the Toffees dominance so on 39 minutes Mikel Arteta did the work to add to the lead. The Spaniard's beautiful run beat John Mensah and took him to the end line where he pulled the ball back for Beckford to easily put home and Everton were ahead 2-0.
Prior to Beckford's second goal Marouane Fellaini went down with an ankle injury. The Belgian spent the next several minutes trying to play through the knock, but once Everton were ahead 2-0 David Moyes made the move to bring Fellaini off and Jack Rodwell on.
The second half will see Sunderland desperately chasing some goals in hopes of avoiding their fourth straight loss, but it is a long road back for the team. They’ve been outclassed thus far and will need a massive turnaround to find two goals, let alone keep the Toffees from adding a third.
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