Two results have strengthened unwanted Everton reputation as brutal change looms

Everton need to overcome their growing image as the Premier League’s soft touch if they are to land a crucial blow before December’s toughest fixtures.

The Blues head to Old Trafford under growing threat from the sides beneath them after just two wins from the opening 12 matches of the season have left them hovering above the bottom three.

Dyche and some of those around him believe the current streak of one defeat in eight matches represents a sign of growing resilience after the club started the campaign with four losses. But that headline masks a more troubling story of goalscoring woe, missed opportunities and Jordan Pickford’s heroics.

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One of the most frustrating performances of the season was the one defeat within the past eight games, the 1-0 loss at Southampton. Everton had a flurry of late chances before Adam Armstrong’s late sucker punch but away supporters left the south coast feeling more adventure might have yielded a valuable win given the hosts went into that game winless, having lost eight of their nine league games and rooted to the bottom of the table as questions grew over Russell Martin’s position. That afternoon ended with a home crowd celebrating in relief and Martin revelling in a landmark result.

On Saturday, Everton hosted a Brentford side that had lost every away league game this season and had failed to keep a clean sheet in the opening months of the season. Despite that, and being reduced to 10 men when captain Christian Norgaard was sent off in the first half, Everton failed to score - thus providing Thomas Frank’s side with a first point on the road.

The result, and manner of it, led to joyous scenes in the Goodison away end once again this season as Brentford supporters did what fans of Brighton and Hove Albion, Bournemouth and Southampton (after their Carabao Cup penalty shootout win) did after securing positive results in L4 at Everton's expense.

On Sunday, Everton will be trying to avoid becoming another first after Man Utd failed to capitalise on an early lead against Ipswich Town in Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge. While his first home game will come against Bodo Glimt in the Europa League on Thursday, Sunday will be his first home league game and his ambition will be to make it his first three points with the club.

To avoid doing that Dyche will need his players to put up a fight at Old Trafford, something they have twice failed to do under his stewardship with the ground arguably the one he has struggled most at with the Blues.

Last season, the 2-0 defeat in this fixture ended with statistics that suggested Everton competed with their hosts. Yet the damage was done before Everton could settle and was largely self-inflicted as the Blues conceded two soft first half penalties, giving a team under pressure an easy route to a victory they badly needed.

After the match, which took the club’s winless league streak to 10 games, Dyche questioned the courage of his players as they laboured in front of goal, saying: “I don’t know what teams have come here and had that many efforts at goal and that many chances. I spoke to the players afterwards. You have got to get hurt to score a goal sometimes as Brian Clough used to say, it can’t all be glorious goals, you have got to get hurt, and that is what I am not seeing.”

Everton were in an even worse predicament when Dyche took them to Old Trafford in April 2023. With the Blues locked in a gruelling relegation fight that would go to the final game of the season, they were indebted to Pickford for only losing 2-0. The England number one made a series of important saves as Man Utd accrued 21 shots in the first half alone. Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial grabbed goals either side of the break but Aaron Wan-Bissaka also missed an open goal and Antony hit the post on a chastening afternoon.

With the December fixture list including a run that features Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, the opening games of the month - at Man Utd and then at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers - feel particularly important as Everton look to reassure supporters this can be a Christmas not spent in fear of a fourth consecutive relegation fight. They also represent a challenge to Dyche, who has taken just one point from his six games against those clubs as Blues boss - and that came courtesy of a 99th minute Yerry Mina equaliser at Molyneux the season before last. Changing the record of recent weeks - and against those two clubs - will be key to calming the growing nerves around Everton right now.