There was another red card for Swansea City on Merseyside but none of the drama or heartache of their cup defeat at Liverpool as Everton were held to a genteel goalless draw at Goodison Park.
Jonjo Shelvey was dismissed for a second bookable offence with 18 minutes remaining but Roberto Martínez’s side lacked the guile or precision necessary to capitalise.
Garry Monk’s miserly defence held out comfortably against an Everton side that lacked the fluency and penetration of recent weeks. Substitute Romelu Lukaku could have inflicted another agonising away defeat on the Welsh club when he threw himself at Samuel Eto’o’s inviting cross in stoppage time but failed to connect in front of Lukasz Fabianski’s goal.
For all the pressure exerted by the home side, the former Arsenal goalkeeper was hardly tested in the Swansea net.
Swansea emerged comfortable winners when the sides met in the Capital One Cup in September, the 3-0 victory representing their first success over Everton, but this was a case of two finely-balanced teams cancelling each other out.
Martínez’s men controlled the first half and were encamped in the final third for long periods but routes through Swansea’s two banks of four proved elusive.
Monk made five changes to the team that suffered late defeat at Liverpool on Tuesday with the visitors content to absorb pressure and worry Everton on the counterattack, a policy that should have paid off on five minutes when the returning Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wilfried Bony combined to break Leighton Baines’ offside trap.
Bony was clean through on the right of Tim Howard’s area when Sigurdsson flicked the ball around Phil Jagielka but the striker hesitated over his shot before firing wide of the near post.
That was an early let-off for Everton, who also made a purposeful start with Samuel Eto’o testing Lukasz Fabianski inside 26 seconds, and a major one arrived when Antolín Alcaraz escaped with a clear handball inside his area midway through the half.
Everton caused their own problems with Ross Barkley failing to track Jefferson Montero’s run to the by-line and Aiden McGeady slicing a dreadful pass straight to Jonjo Shelvey after the winger’s cross had been cleared.
Shelvey’s shot was deflected safely to Howard but via the arm of the diving Alcaraz, but his goalkeeper impersonation proved convincing enough for referee Kevin Friend who waved play on.
Swansea’s luck on key decisions shows no sign of improving, although Shelvey’s second-half dismissal was purely self-inflicted.
Alcaraz’s exit with a shoulder injury prompted Martínez to make a tactical switch that increased the threat from Everton before the interval. With no centre-half on the bench, the Everton manager moved Gareth Barry into defence and matched Swansea’s four-man midfield with the introduction of Muhamed Besic.
The Bosnian joined McGeady and Seamus Coleman in testing the visitors from the Everton right but despite good openings for the Republic of Ireland duo, Eto’o and Steven Naismith, a poor final touch frequently undermined the home side’s patient approach.
McGeady failed to connect cleanly with Coleman’s inviting cross and curled a shot inches wide after a mistake from Ashley Williams released Naismith in the second half. Swansea, as was the case at Anfield in the Capital One Cup, showed greater intent after the break and Shelvey should have done better when sent clear through the middle by Bony’s exquisite turn and pass.
The former Liverpool midfielder dragged his shot well wide, and his afternoon deteriorated when he collected a second yellow card for a blatant body-check on James McCarthy. Shelvey, booked for kicking the ball away in the first half, could have few complaints.
Martínez introduced Lukaku and Steven Pienaar in the search for a breakthrough but, even against 10-men, Everton could find no way through and a series of late near misses, mostly involving the Belgium substitute, encapsulated their afternoon.
