Luton Town 1-1 Everton: Final | Blues hang on to foil Hatters

03/05/2024 23:03

The Friday night clash was supposed to be a Sky-televised relegation six-pointer until Dyche's boys stepped it up last week

Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - Everton were pretty much in their beach-going sandals for this one, but gave Luton more than enough to handle. A draw is probably fair given that the Blues lost the last two times against them when they were marginally the better side.

90+8' - Where is the whistle? Freekick for Luton now from the edge of the attacking third. Doughty takes it, partly cleared, Townsend with a low missile that Branthwaite blocks to keep it level! Final whistle! 1-1 it ends.

90+6' - Gomes had an opportunity to put in the dagger on a break, but can't find a man in space. Berry header goalwards, Pickford pushes it out for a corner, last chance of the game.
Luton goalie is up in the box too, deep from Doughty, headed back, scissor kick from Berry and Harrison blocks it, with no idea about it! Another corner, and the Blues clear.

90+2' - Woodrow cross, well blocked. Pickford mishits a clearance but the Blues can smother the danger. Now Chermiti is fouled in the center circle, and Everton can relieve the pressure.
Woodrow gets his head to the ball, and now it's a corner on the right for the Toffees. McNeil inswinger, referee blows for some pushing and shoving. He wants it retaken, books Gomes for timewasting.
Luton can mount a counter, but Coleman beats Barkley to the ball.

90' - Expecting to see about 6-8 minutes added on here, yup it's six minutes.

84' - Chermiti nicks in and steals the ball off Barkley, and he finds Beto. The striker beats Osho, then goes down, and again Tony Harrington says no penalty. VAR agrees with him this time, they were both grappling with each other.
Beto and Chermiti are working well off each other, liking this.

82' - Excellent control from Chermiti off a long ball from Tarky, leads to a cross by Coleman, but it's low and deflected, Kaminski comes up to collect, Beto makes sure to remind him he's close by.
Ball pops out to Ross Barkley, and he stings Pickford's palms with a volley.

80' - Double change for the Blues, and it's an adventurous one! Beto and Youssef Chermiti come on with DCL and Gueye coming off. Former Blue Andros Townsend is on for the Hatters, with Adebayo coming off. The Toffees' backline will be very glad to see the back of him.

77' - Oooh Dom! He does well to hold up the ball and bring in his teammates, cross headed back across goal by McNeil, DCL rises highest and heads it goalwards.. but it's straight at Kaminski who parries over for a corner.
Burke has his arm around DCL, ball bounces out to Harrison who shoots and it's blocked. Now he is fouled and the Blues can relax. Freekick into the box is cleared.

75' - Adebayo wins a corner off Tarkowski on the Everton right. Doughty takes, low, two blocked shots and the Blues can clear.

69' - DCL holds up the ball for Harrison, shot blocked, and then he tries again, and it's partly blocked and the ball loops up and looks like it's dropping into the top corner.. but Kaminski flies across and slaps it away! Wow.
The outswinging corner is cleared and Chong can mount a counter, he gets between Harrison and Coleman but then the ball goes off Doughty and out for a goalkick.
Luton make a change, and have taken off a wingback for another forward, with Woodrow on for Onyedinma. The striker was responsible for the goal in added time at Goodison that saw the Blues crash out of the FA Cup.

67' - Doughty beats Harrison to a long diagonal behind the backline, but the winger does very well to recover and clear for a corner.
Seamus Coleman is coming on for Young, and Luton Town are the 57th different team he will have played against as a Toffee. The traveling Blues serenade him with '60 Grand 60 Grand Seamus Coleman' chant. Morris gets a touch but Onana and then Gomes can come away with it. Barkley fouls Harrison as the Blues were starting a counter.

65' - Godfrey touches Chong's cross, out for a corner. Doughty outswinger from Pickford's right, Tarky heads away. Ball back in, Barkley balloons it over, too much contact with his (rat)head.

63' - Now Gomes gives away a freekick near the sideline, and Doughty will swing the ball into the box again. Once again Onana first to it and the Blues can hack it away.

62' - Everton have the ball in the final third and Onana too lackadaisical on the ball, a Luton player nips in from behind him and steals the ball, which ends up being a Luton corner.
Onana does well to make amends for his error by getting his head to the ball first.

60' - DCL wins an easy freekick in the middle with his back to goal, holding up the ball and giving his teammates somewhere to go with it as Luton press up.

56' - Young's cross leads to a corner from the left. Gomes takes it short, gets it back and overhits his cross into the box, and Luton can clear it away.

54' - Double change for the Toffees, with Garner and Doucoure coming off, and it's Andre Gomes and Amadou Onana on.

53' - Now Gana goes in the book, hooks down Chong who was getting away from the midfielder through the middle. Freekick from a pretty dangerous area for the hosts.
Doughty standing over it, will he try to go for the near post? Nope, into the box and Mengi gets away from Tarky but heads well over.

51' - Osho curls in one from distance, Pickford watches it past the far post.

49' - Ugly clash of heads in the Everton box, Morris heads the back of Young's head who had beaten him to a Barkley cross.

46' - Adebayo gets goal-side of Branthwaite off a long ball, but the defender smartly does well to hold off the forward long enough for the ball to roll out.

Halftime Thoughts - The Blues haven't shown much today here, and for the first time in years, they don't really have to either.

45+6' - Doughty's cross causes chaos in the box as the ball is headed back across goal, but the Blues are wise to that tactic and can clear with Gueye coming out of the box with the ball. Now McNeil has a chance to cross for DCL, overhit slightly and out for a goalkick, and there's the halftime whistle, 1-1 at Kenilworth Road.

45+5' - Adebayo and Branthwaite grappling for the ball, comes out to Morris who tries to curl in a shot from outside the box, wide of the far post.

45+3' - Wicked cross from Harrison and two Luton defenders almost conspire to score an own goal from trying to clear that. Corner is an outswinger again, and cleared again.

45+1' - Doughty volley from a cross, tamely bounces to Pickford.

45' - Six minutes to be added on.

44' - Chance! Goalmouth melee from a freekick, Adebayo manhandling Tarkowski who gives him back as good as he gets, Branthwaite heads back across goal and Tarky can't make solid contact, the hosts clear.

40' - Just as I say that, Harrison cuts in onto his left foot and fires off a shot headed for the far top corner, swings over though.

38' - Would be okay with both Doucoure and Harrison being taken off at halftime.

36' - Luton are pressing hard, but Everton have looked composed with the ball in their own half.

34' - Adebayo wins another aerial, he's really imposing himself here and now wins a corner off Harrison. Doughty outswinger, somewhat cleared, back towards goal and Pickford gathers.

30' - As expected, Luton have stepped it up since the goal, pressing up higher and swinging in a couple of crosses that the Blues scrambled away after multiple efforts.
Cross into the box, Adebayo easily overpowers Young and throws him away, and can turn and shoot, nothing Pickford can do about it, it's 1-1. Very poor from the experienced defender.

23' - VAR is taking a long look at it, and now the ref has gone over to the pitchside monitor too. More time elapses, but he decides it is a penalty!
Dominic Calvert-Lewin to take it, a couple of steps, down the middle and goal! Kaminski dived to the left and his feet touched the ball agonizingly, but Everton lead 1-0!

20' - Chance! The Toffees keep the ball after the corner, and now McNeil's wicked inswinging cross is deflected goalwards by a defender, goalie Kaminski does very well to parry that away, Garner gets out the way and Doucoure's shot is blocked!
Another cross into the box, and another corner. McNeil outswinger again, and the hosts can clear but what is this? Mengi has his arms wrapped around Branthwaite's waist and hauls him to the ground in an MMA-like move!

18' - The Blues are keeping the ball in the opponent's half, and now Garner moves forward and swings in a cross, headed out for the first corner of the game. McNeil with an outswinger — that's different — and the Hatters clear. Interesting choice there after a whole season of inswingers, but that said, Luton are the second best in the league in aerial challenges, only after the Blues.

15' - DCL plays in McNeil and he goes over in the box! Mengi did get the ball, the wide man was looking for a penalty there wasn't he? The referee is not interested at all, and VAR eventually agrees.

13' - Morris is free to get to a long ball, but that's only because he's fouled an Everton player.
Now Garner taps Adebayo's ankles and he goes over heavily. The Toffee has already been booked, and will need to be careful.

9' - Garner hauls down Chong and he will get booked. The resulting freekick is cleared eventually after some head tennis.
The commentator says the Hatters have started the better side, but the last three minutes I've seen, I feel the Blues have had things under control here.

8' - Apologies for the delay, took a little longer to wind up work for the week than expected, but here we are. Everton are safe, no matter what happens today!

Starting Lineups

Everton - Sean Dyche hands Dominic Calvert-Lewin a start as the striker is fit again, and the lineup is pretty much as expected otherwise with a full-strength lineup.

Luton Town - Ross Barkley starts against his former side.

Preview

Everton made it three wins in three games last week to end any relegation fears and actually let us fans sit back and enjoy some football without gnawing our fingernails down to the bone. After securing Premier League survival on the penultimate week and then the last weekend in the last two years, this time around the Toffees are safe with three games to play, despite the league deducting pretty much whatever points they willed.

Tonight's hosts Luton Town though are still mired in the drop zone, and sit in 18th with 25 points. They are a point behind slumping Nottingham Forest [who just sacked 'referee consultant' Mark Clattenburg], and one ahead of a resurgent Burnley, with the trio all having three games left to play and two relegation spots still to be decided.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchweek 36

Date and start time: Friday, May 3rd at 12:00 p.m. PT / 3:00 p.m ET / 8:00 p.m. BST

Stadium: Kenilworth Road Stadium, Luton, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 12,000

Weather: 51°F/11°C, rain, 72% chance of precipitation, 11 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV:Peacock - United States; Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League - United Kingdom; Fubo- Canada, SuperSport MaXimo 2, beIN Sports HD 1, Setanta Sports 1, Star Sports Select HD1

Radio: evertontv, SiriusXM FC, TalkSport Radio UK

Live stream: Fubo, SKY GO Extra, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Hotstar VIP, JioTV, SuperSport Premier League ROA

Gamethread: The Live Blog for this game will commence with the lineup announcement an hour before kickoff, and continue with the Instant Reaction and Match Recap soon after the final whistle.

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Last Meeting

The Toffees have been frustrated by the Hatters twice already this season, with both 2-1 losses coming at Goodison Park, in the league and the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The Blues' last trip to Luton's quaint stadium, affectionately known as 'The Kenny', came back in 2007 when a Tim Cahill goal settled the League Cup fourth round clash. The Hatters were last in the top flight in the 1991-92 season, when the Blues also recorded a 1-0 win at Kenilworth Road with 'Bob The Pole' — winger Robert Warzycha — getting the lone goal.