Everton salvaged a late point in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
The visitors took the lead against the run of play midway through the second half as Jordan Ayew swept home a well-taken strike past Jordan Pickford.
But substitute Amadou Onana pulled Sean Dyche’s side level in the 84th minute by rising above Sam Johnstone to meet Dwight McNeil’s corner.
The Blues moved out of the Premier League’s relegation zone ahead of the expected outcome of their appeal against November’s 10-point deduction.
Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:
Muted start to Blues’ defining week
A week which threatens to define Everton’s future is officially underway.
The Premier League’s independent commission are expected to deliver their verdict on the club’s appeal against November’s landmark 10-point deduction.
Off the pitch, too, there could be further ramifications with a decision on the takeover by prospective new owners 777 Partners also under consideration.
Against that backdrop, the Blues had a perfect platform to deliver another of the defiant displays that once helped them pull clear of the relegation zone.
Facing a Crystal Palace team in a state of flux after Roy Hodgson stood down and was swiftly replaced by Oliver Glasner added another level of intrigue.
Yet Sean Dyche’s side failed to provide an antidote to that potential new manager bounce in a game that barely sparked into life in the second half.
Defiance should have been the order of business beneath the Goodison lights, so often a heady cocktail for those of the royal blue persuasion.
Instead, deflation was the overriding emotion when Paul Tierney blew the final whistle as a week fraught with uncertainty began in underwhelming fashion.
Time to rethink the DCL problem?
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal drought had long become a cause for concern even before he drew yet another near-predictable blank against the Eagles.
Shorn of confidence and increasingly isolated, Everton’s No.9 ploughed a lone furrow for a 19th successive game since he last found the target.
There is, however, a school of thought that successive managers have failed to remedy Calvert-Lewin’s tribulations due to simply overlooking the obvious.
The one-time England international continues to appear a shadow of the player that was tearing it up during the halcyon days under Carlo Ancelotti.
Real Madrid’s current manager got plenty wrong during an 18-month period that feels increasingly like a fever dream for long-suffering Evertonians.
But he successfully identified that Calvert-Lewin’s selflessness was actually his greatest undoing due to routinely tracking back to help recover possession.
Ancelotti gave the now 26-year-old licence to focus on his main stock in trade; something that reaped his best-ever return of 21 goals in 39 appearances.
Simplistic thought it may seem, figuratively and literally thinking inside the box may be the solution both Everton and Calvert-Lewin were seeking all along.
Goodison starts to turn on Dycheball
Dyche’s first year in the Goodison hot seat had been one of incremental progress that promised to develop into a long-term platform of sustainability.
Yet dissent is beginning to manifest in the rank and file after producing a languid display against the Eagles that firmly drew the Grand Old Lady’s ire.
A smattering of boos at the final whistle did not tell the tale of that growing unrest but the in-game invective from all four sides was particularly telling.
Each time Everton threw away what little momentum they had, be it through a sloppy pass or profligate attempt, the outpouring of frustration grew louder.
Repeated pleas for Dyche to ‘change it’ were regularly aired while anything that gifted Palace fresh impetus received the short shrift, to put it politely.
The ex-Burnley boss has been here before – earlier this season, in fact – and successfully weathered that particular storm when wins were hard to come by.
Still, he will need to serve up better displays than one that was to quote an Everton player of semi-recent vintage, awful if it could even be called football.