Everton miss chance to go fourth

Everton have missed the chance to move into the top four of the Premier League table after being held to a 1-1 draw by Pepe Mel's West Bromwich Albion.

The hosts threatened early on when Nicolas Anelka played the ball to Matej Vydra, but his dangerous delivery across goal was cut out by Tim Howard before it could reach James Morrison.

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Bryan Oviedo came close for Everton on two occasions shortly afterwards, but James McCarthy was the first to draw a noteworthy save from Ben Foster, volleying an effort into the keeper's arms after being found by Kevin Mirallas.

Oviedo had another chance to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark, but this time he was denied by a fine block from Chris Brunt.

West Brom went up the other end and almost scored themselves moments later when Zoltan Gera forced a smart stop from Howard having latched on to Anelka's pass.

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Everton took the lead with four minutes of the first half remaining, and it was route one stuff from the visitors as Romelu Lukaku flicked Sylvain Distin's long ball onto Mirallas, who slid it past Foster.

The Baggies almost levelled things up 10 minutes after the restart when Anelka set up a good chance for Victor Anichebe to score against his former club, but he could not connect with his shot well enough to really trouble Howard.

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The hosts did get their equaliser 15 minutes before full time, however, as Morrison did well down the right before crossing for Diego Lugano to nod home at the front post.

That was how it stayed for the rest of the match as Everton remain sixth in the table, while West Brom move up a place to 13th in Mel's first game in charge of the club.