David Moyes has set his sights on competing for Europe with Everton in seasons to come, as his team begin to look up rather than down.
The depleted Toffees extended their unbeaten Premier League streak to seven matches with a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Wednesday.
Jake O’Brien’s diving header – the defender’s first Everton goal – cancelled out Yoane Wissa’s opener and rescued a point at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Despite dropping a place to 15th, due to Manchester United’s win over Ipswich Town, Everton are now 15 points clear of the relegation zone, having embarked on their longest run of games without defeat in the league since December 2017 (also seven).
Moyes returned to Goodison Park for a second spell in January with the club embroiled in a relegation battle, but has dragged them clear of danger with 15 points from the first eight league games back in charge.
“I don’t really want to be someone who comes in to save the club from relegation,” he told TNT Sports. “I want to be a manager who competes for Europe, like I have been for three years prior to this [at West Ham].
“But let’s be honest, Everton were in a terrible position. We are looking up rather than down. We are disappointed with getting a draw, and should have picked up more on Saturday [in a 2-2 draw with Man United].
“I thought we were at least worthy of a point today. I was really disappointed with the players at half-time because [of how we] conceded. We tried to prepare for it, but did not deal with it very well.
“The game was really slow in the first half. I thought it suited us. In the second half, we saw a lot more of the ball, and we were the bigger threat.”
A message from tonight’s goalscorer, @obrienjake_.
UTT.pic.twitter.com/tm7xylgqOr
— Everton (@Everton) February 26, 2025
Things could have been even better for Everton, but the in-form Beto saw three golden opportunities go begging when one-on-one with Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken, with two of those chances coming before Wissa headed home in first-half stoppage time after the visitors failed to deal with a long throw into their box.
Beto’s three chances were worth a combined 0.62 expected goals, showing the quality of Flekken’s saves.
“He has been fantastic in many, many ways this season, and they were three big saves,” Bees boss Thomas Frank said of his goalkeeper.
“I think it’s probably a fair result. We controlled Everton really well. We played a fairly good game, but we lacked that cutting edge to make it 2-0.”
Brentford remain in 11th place, four points adrift of the top 10, and are without a win in six home league matches.
