In traditional Evert fashion this season, the Toffees were were the better side all day but simply couldn’t score the goal they need to win. Swansea City deserves a ton of credit for an excellent defensive performance but David Moyes’ side found yet another way to leave points on the pitch they should have claimed.
Everton vs. Swansea City: Final score 0-0, Swansea’s stout defense earns them a draw
Everton dominated possession and all the other pertinient statistics but failed to break down Swansea’s defense, settling for a scoreless draw at Goodison Park
In the 9th minute midfielder Steven Pienaar sent a ball in to the box to Nikica Jelavić who made a great spin move around the defender, but couldn't keep good control on the ball. The striker was only able to get a weak toe poke on the ball, rolling it wide of the goal to the left.
The Toffees were back in the 16th minute, with Jelavić again threatening to give Everton the lead. This time it was Leighton Baines with the cross in to the box that Jelavić headed on frame towards the far post where it was cleared off the line by a Stoke defender.
Everton piled on the pressure in the second but Swansea’s defense was up to the task clogging up the space in their attacking third and preventing Everton from looking dangerous. The Toffees best chances came on corners when they were able to get a player in some space for headers. Of course, when you’re sending all your headers over the cross bar by a fair distance, you’re ultimately just being wasteful.
When you out shoot a team 17-4 at home expect to win. Of course when you only put five of those shots on frame, maybe the numbers are misleading. If you want my opinion on the matter, it was Swansea’s defense who had an excellent performance on the day.
Marouane Fellaini had a brilliant chance in the 87th minute to win the match for Everton, though it looked like he committed a foul on the play. Pienaar's cross found Fellaini at the far post where he'd created space by giving a slight shove to a Swansea defender. Karma appeared to intercede though as Michel Vorm made a sprawling save to push Fellaini's header wide of the post.
In the end, nobody could break through and the match ended in a scoreless draw.
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