There are only 13 Premier League games left at Goodison Park. Sean Dyche remains none the wiser as to whether he will be in charge when the club relocates.
Failure to defeat a Brentford side reduced to 10 men for 49 minutes does nothing to help his cause, the brief jeers at full-time more in frustration at another stalemate than full protest, but typifying another anxious Merseyside afternoon.
The panic here – and it was tangible even during the home side’s better moments in a game they should have won – is due to a sense of foreboding as much as malcontent at Everton’s predicament.
Everton’s next seven fixtures include meetings with Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. Their fifth draw in eight games, the last three without a goal, have made the natives fretful.
This was a wasted opportunity.
Six minutes of the first half were left when Brentford’s Christian Norgaard challenged Jordan Pickford in what, at first glance, looked like an innocuous attempt to connect with the ball at the far post.
A slow-motion replay later and Norgaard’s studs had clearly caught the England goalkeeper on his knee, the freezeframe looking more damning with every review.
