68′ – Interesting double substitution, looks like Dyche will make it after all. Calvert-Lewin replaces Gueye, with Patterson replacing Young. Expect Doucoure to drop into midfield and Broja to play against DCL.
Nuno Gomes has moved on to his Wolves favorite Willy Boly, taking out Sosa and three defenders to counter Everton’s two strikers. Boly straight to the book for wasting time.

64′ – Oh man. Pickford misses a shot, reacts quickly to the rebound and then does a great job of parrying a third shot.
The corner is cleared for another. MGW gets it again and it goes into another corner. Pickford defends the ball and is cautioned. The third is deleted.

61′ – Scramble from Everton and it’s in the net, 2-0 to Forest. Gibbs-White appears to have fouled Mangala with a hand in the midfielder’s face, but the referee says play on. This becomes a counter-attack, with Doucoure then puffing up his defensive lines, with the ball coming back to Elanga and then to Wood, who finds Gibbs-White to place it past Pickford, with Everton stretched out and no defender near the ball can be found. Game Over looks like.

58′ – Good work from Ndiaye who wins the ball back after a loss, finds Doucoure who passes it to Lindstrom, the winger cuts in and shoots, the ball doesn’t turn back and goes wide of the goal.
Calvert-Lewin is now warming up, but will Dyche stick with the one striker or drop Doucoure instead?

Hmm, the flag looks familiar!

53′ – Lindstrom slips and Forest have a 4v3 win, Gibbs-White tries to block a shot that goes horribly wide, the Blues survive again.
Now Branthwaite is booked for a solid foul on Gibbs-White – sometimes these are counted as fouls, sometimes they’re good, what can you say.

51st minute – Everton push up and Tarky steals the ball near the penalty area, the ball bounces to Doucoure who tries to turn and shoot but is blocked.
Good performance from the Blues, although it takes a moment or three of magic to score.

47th minute – Elanga deceives Myko and runs freely in space, going down slightly as Gana puts him under pressure and the Everton midfielder is shown a yellow card. Free kick from about 25 yards away, Gibbs-White over it, chip short for Elanga and Myko clears. The ball bounces back into the penalty area and Milenkovic wants a penalty while Branthwaite held his shirt in his hand. The referee listens to the VAR and sees no problem here. Not much different to the penalty the Blues wanted when the same pair met in the other penalty area.

46th minute – Everton made their only change at half-time: the unfortunate Jack Harrison was substituted and Jesper Lindstrom came on for him.
Good move for the Blues with a right cross from Myko that just goes over Lindstrom.

Halftime thoughts – Everton didn’t do enough in the attacking half to justify a win in this game and were caught on the counter-attack, allowing Forest to score the lead. There will be more of this in the second half as Forest doubles their defensive power and hits the Blues on the counter-attack.

45+2′ – Broja lies on the ground and hangs back as the game progresses, and eventually the half-time whistle blows so he can attract some attention. Everton go down 1-0 to Forest at the break.

45+1′ – Phew, quick chance for Forest through the middle, but Sosa shoots just wide.

45′ – Tarky with a very good sliding tackle on Wood, it had to be yellow for him. The striker still goes down and wants a foul. The referee gives a drop ball that Wood doesn’t allow Pickford to hoof away, and Goodison boos loudly.
Two more minutes are added here.

44th minute – Williams wins a cheap free kick against Broja and the striker is pretty distraught. Goodison agrees with the on-loan striker.
Oooh, Broja creates a chance and then hammers it into the goal with his left foot from outside the penalty area, the ball goes past the far post.

41′ – Argh. Quick counterattack for the Blues after a throw-in on the right that comes to Myko as Forest are overloaded at the back and the Ukraine international’s cross goes over the ball and goes wide of the goal.

37′ – Direct football almost works for the Blues. Myko in space, quick cross and Morato manages to get between two blue shirts and clear his head.
Now Branthwaite storms into the penalty area with the ball at his feet and his opponent has a fistful of his shirt and throws him over, but the referee is uninterested in the penalty cries ringing out around Goodison as the Everton defender goes down .

32′ – Oooh! Broja starts a movement in the left channel, finds Myko, whose cross is headed into the goal by Broja, but slips past the goal.

30′ – Another missed opportunity. Everton shoot a free kick from midfield into the penalty area, the ball is passed across the field by Mangala to Harrison, who tries to beat two men but promptly loses the ball and fouls an opponent.

27th minute – Good cross from Myko, but Broja can only shoot it just wide of the goal. At the moment nobody is really attacking the penalty spot and the six-yard box.

24′ – An aimless cross from Ndiaye goes over Broja and out. It doesn’t quite work for the Blues, they have to keep the ball.
Tarky’s long air strike hits Broja in the box, he shows excellent control to bring him down but the ball slips past him.

21′ – Aina error earns the Blues a second corner. With an inswinger from Young, Branthwaite puts his shoulder on it, again and again.

19th minute – Broja wins a corner against Anderson, the first opportunity for the Blues from set pieces. Ndiaye takes it from the right, plays briefly to Harrison and his heel on Ndiaye is blocked and the chance is wasted. Pooh.

15th minute – Ndiaye attacks quickly, but can’t beat his man one-on-one. The forest is now countering and they are already ahead.
Chris Wood takes the lead with an excellently cushioned volley. Wood beats Tarky to a long ball, Elanga finds him in space again and with the center halves in disarray, the striker scores again this season, 1-0 to Forest.

12′ – Tarky shields the ball well in the middle third and somehow gets into the penalty area with the ball at his feet, plays it through to Broja, but his flick doesn’t quite work.
Now Elanga has a yard or two on Mykolenko and hits a cross, Wood is free but can’t get it on goal. Blues cannot keep passing up opportunities like this.

11′ – Forest counter with pace to Harrison, the Blues defend well and the ball comes to Wood who attempts a volley from distance that goes wide of the goal.

8′ – Oh come on, referee. Tarky hits the ball too far and then makes a hard but fair tackle, and somehow referee Tony Richardson deems it not only a foul but also a yellow card!

7′ – Broja’s first participation should have earned the Blues a corner, but the assistant referee points for a goal kick and he is roundly booed.

5′ – Branthwaite makes a poor save and then Pickford comes out wide to collect a ball which Tarkowksi makes a poor save. Misunderstandings here early on.
Brilliant run from Ndiaye! Turns back and forth between two Forest players, then gets into shooting position on the edge of the penalty area and shoots wildly over the goal, oof.

2′ – Early free kick for the Blues as Harrison is brought down. Forest manage to clear something before Elanga tries to break free but loses the ball.

1′ – Gana gets us going.
There was a change in Forest’s starting lineup: Ramón Sosa replaced Murillo, who tweaked something during the warm-up/

For the last time in 2024, Everton hears the air raid siren, followed by the gentle sounds of Z-Cars. The Blues’ first ever league game took place on September 3, 1892 against Nottingham Forest and ended with a 2-2 result.

We would like to applaud here for a minute to remember all the Evertonians who passed away this year.

Everton: Dyche finally ends the Calvert-Lewin adventure and gives Broja his first start, although Harrison inexplicably keeps his place.

Nottingham Forest: There are no changes for visitors.

Everton’s season continues on a strange path where they can’t score goals and win games, but the defense has strengthened so they can’t be beaten either. Draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City can be celebrated in any year, but with the Toffees struggling to beat the teams around them they are still just above the relegation zone.

The visitors of Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, are experiencing a rare Midas season where everything they touch has turned to gold. Forest are currently in fourth place and with Manchester City, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United all reeling, they have taken full advantage of the situation.

Competition: Premier League game week 19

Date and start time: Sunday December 29th at 7:00am PT / 10:00am ET / 3:00pm BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 45°F/7°C, partly cloudy, 5% chance of precipitation, 9 mph wind

TV: USA Network – United States; N/A – United Kingdom; Fubo – CanadabeIN Sports HD 3, SuperSport OTT 6

Radio: evertontv, BBC Radio 5 Live

Live stream: Fubo, NBC Sports App, nbcsports.com, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Disney+ Hotstar, JioTV

Game thread: There will be a live blog for this game, with our coverage continuing after the final whistle with match recaps and reactions.

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Forest and Everton were neck-and-neck for much of last season as both clubs saw the Premier League lose points for breaches of profit and sustainability regulations, but both ultimately survived the decline comfortably.

The Blues had the edge over Forest last season with the double, a 1-0 win thanks to Dwight McNeil at the City Ground, followed by a 2-0 win with Idrissa Gueye and McNeil doing it again in the late April game at Goodison scored goals.