Despite a late rally and a goal from Ashley Williams, Everton suffered a 2-1 loss at home to Lyon as they remain rooted to the bottom of Group E in the Europa League without a win.
An early first-half goal from the penalty spot from Nabil Fekir and then a late winner from former Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore were enough to secure all three points for the travelling French side but the Blues didn’t go down without a fight.
Quite literally.
Looking for a foothold to get back into the game, Everton began peppering Anthony Lopes’ box with crosses and began carving out chances that they’d lacked in the first hour of the game.
Gylfi Sigurdsson whipped in a corner from the left-hand side that looped high into the air after Michael Keane was unable to guide it goalwards. Lopes easily claimed the ball but was pushed out of play by Williams, with the Welshman seemingly looking to win the Toffees another corner.
The Lyon players took offence to the 33-year-olds push on their goalkeeper and began crowding around the Welshman. As ever, pushing and pulling broke out from both sides but being on a slope where the Goodison Park pitch runs off into the stands, players found themselves quickly very close to Everton fans.
With the pushing and pulling continuing, Williams seemingly threw an arm in the direction of Kenny Tete but one Everton fan, holding a child, threw a punch in the direction of Lopes.
Williams, lucky to escape a sending off, was only given a yellow card by referee Bas Nijhuis.
Moments later, the Welshman, standing in as captin for the night, then found himself on the end of a Sigurdsson free-kick, as he headed Everton level in the game.
Blues show fight following ruckus
Despite a late rally from Blues following Williams’ goal, they were unable to find a second goal. Moments after Sigurdsson had laid the ball on for the Welsh defender to score, the Icelandic midfielder hit the inside of Lopes’ far post with another free-kick.
Keane also had a chance to bundle the ball home but was denied by Lopes and his defenders as they were able to clear the ball behind for a corner.
Unable to make their pressure play, Everton found themselves defending a counterattack that would lead to the French sides winner. Maxwel Cornet led the charge down the right wing and made a jinxing run into the Blues box.
The Ivorian forward was able to direct a pass across to Traore as he shook off Keane and superbly back-heeled his shot past Jordan Pickford.
Traore’s goal sucked the energy out of the Goodison Park crowd as they just starting to get behind their side as the Blues went in search of a second goal.
Despite having 15 minutes left of normal time, Ronald Koeman’s side looked beaten and could not get going again.
Poor first-half showing didn't help
Koeman described the game as a ‘must win’ prior to kick-off and that job became that slightly bit harder when Mason Holgate brought down Marcal and gave the visitors a chance to grab an early lead from the spot.
Despite Pickford’s best efforts to save the low shot, Fekir calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right-hand corner past the England international to give his side the early lead.
Unlike the second half, there was little to write about during the first 45 minutes.
Davy Klaassen had Everton’s best chance as he jumped on a stray pass from Mouctar Diakhaby and he quickly made his way towards Lopes’ box.
The Dutchman, who has yet to adapt to life on Merseyside, scuffed his one on one chance with the Portuguese goalkeeper and wasted the Blues’ best chance of the first 45 minutes.
Had he spotted Dominic Calvert-Lewin to his left-hand side, Koeman’s side may have found themselves with a different outcome in the game.
As it is, they remain winless in their last four games and are yet to take maximum points from a Europa League group game.