30 min: Looking every inch the raffish wing-commander with his carefully Brylcreemed hair, Jack Harrison canters down the right wing with the ball at his feet but runs into a solid wall of resistance in the form of Kristoffer Ajer.

29 min: Chermiti forces Pinnock into a mistake and wins a corner for his team. The subsequent inswinger is cleared at the back post by the man who gave away the corner in the first place.

27 min: James Garner advances into Brentford territory with the ball at his feet but their visitors aren’t long winning possession back. This is pretty grim fare for the neutral observer, as both sides are struggling to hold on to the ball.

25 min: Brentford win a free-kick wide on the left, take it short and then send a cross towards Ivan Toney. Pickford plucks the ball from the sky and sets up a quick counter-attack, which comes to nothing very quickly. The home side keep sending speculative balls in the direction of their young Portuguese striker, Chermiti, but he’s unable to get to any of them.

23 min: Everton win a free-kick about 10 yards inside their own halfg for a Wissa foul on Tarkowski. Pickford launches the ball towards the edge of the Brentford penalty area but is unable to pick out his intended target, Brantwaithe.

21 min: A low Kristoffer Ajer ball across the face of the Everton goal is blocked and cleared by Tarkowski.

20 min: Jarrad Brantwaithe blocks what looked a certain goal after Vitaly Janelt had sent a pull-back through Tarkowski’s legs and straight into the path of Matthias Jensen, who pulled the trigger.

17 min: An announcement over the Goodison Park PA warns supporters to remain seated and says that anyone “who persistently stands” will face repercussions of some kind. It seems unnecessary, as very little has happened in the opening 15 minutes to get supporters of either side out of their seats and on their feet.

16 min: Pinnock sends a five-iron down the left flank, trying to pick out Bryan Mbeumo. James Tarkowski is first to the ball and tidies up at the back for Everton.

14 min: Brentford win a throw-in deep in Everton territory and eventually get a cross to the back post, where Pickford punches clear under pressure from Nathan Collins.

12 min: Tarkowski plays a low ball to the feet of Chermniti, who has his back to goal and tries to spin around Ethan Pinnock. Not today, young man – the striker falls over in the face of the immovable man-mountain behind him but doesn’t get a free-kick.

11 min: Jordon Pickford races out of his area to meet a ball over the top of his defence that Yoane Wissa was chasing. The Everton goalkeeper heads the ball clear in a style similar to Kevin De Bruyne’s excellent headed goal against Brighton on Thursday night.

9 min: Doucoure plays a crossfield diagonal towards McNeill on the left touchline but the Everton winger is unable to keep the ball in play and puts it out for a Brentford throw-in halfway inside their own half.

6 min: Dwight McNeil collects a cross from the right and from a narrow(ish) angle, sends the ball fizzing across the face of goal. Chermiti flings himself at the ball near the far post but despite stretching every sinew, is unable to get the crucial touch.

4 min: Jensen sends the ball into the mixer and Jarrad Brantwaithe misses his header. Everton eventually hack the ball clear, with Tarkowski dooing the honours. There’s a VAR check for a potential handball by Abdoulaye Doucoure in his own penalty area but replays show the ball hit him in the face.

3 min: Jarrad Branthwaite is forced to concede a corner under pressure from the terrier-like harrying of Mathias Jensen.

3 min: Pickford launches another long ball towards Chermiti, who is beaten to it on this occasion by Ethan Pinnock.

2 min: On his first Premier League start for Everton, Youssef Chermiti engages in a futile chase down the left flank trying to win possession of a ball hoofed in his general direction from deep. Kristoffer Ajer gets to it first.

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1 min: Everton kick-off, their skipper having elected to do so after winning the coin-toss. Abdoulaye Doucoure gets the ball rolling, playing it straight back to Jordan Pickford.

Not long now: James Tarkowski and Christian Norgaard lead the sides down the tunnel and up the stairs as the Z Cars theme music blares out over the Goodison Park PA system. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.

Sean Dyche: In an interview with Sky Sports, the Everton manager explains that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is ill and carrying a couple of knocks. Vitaly Mykolenko is out with an ankle injury that “he’ll take a bit of time to recover from”.

On the similarities between Brentford and Everton’s form coming into this game: “I jusat spoke to Thomas and he’s somebody I respect and know reasonably well. We were saying that one of the conundrums of how we both hadn’t won games for long periods despite pretty decent performances and it’s just one of those things you have to come out of. We’ve both done that in our own ways and now we’ve parked that, we want to take these on and try to win the game.”

The foot of the table: Sheffield United’s defeat at St James’ Park means they are relegated from the Premier League, while a draw for Burnley at Old Trafford leaves them second from bottom on 24 points, one behind Luton, who lost at Wolves.

Everton are eight points clear of the drop zone and a win this evening will guarantee their safety. Even a draw ought to be enough, given their superior goal difference to the four teams below them.

• View the Premier League table

Thomas Frank: “The biggest thing comparing this season to last season is that we have lost way too many games and when you don’t win, you don’t get that little bit of sugar, that natural little bit of feedback to the brain that says all the hard work is paying off,” said the Brentford manager in an interview with Sky Sports yesterday.

“A big thing is looking at the processes, looking at the performances, looking at how the players are developing, because they are still developing even if we are losing. Losing is just a result on the scoreboard and performances are the most important thing.”

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Tonight’s match officials

• Referee: Darren England.

• Assistants: Simon Bennett and Dan Robathan.

• Fourth official: Dean Whitestone.

• VAR: Michael Oliver.

• Assistant VAR: Richard West.

Those teams: Dominic Calvert-Lewin is not in the Everton matchday squad, presumably having failed to recover from the illness through which he played in midweek. In the abence of Beto, his place is taken by the 19-year-old Portuguese centre-forward Youssef Chermiti, who has yet to score a senior goal for the club in this, his first season on Merseyside. Vitaly Mykolenko is injured and missing from the matchday squad. His place in the side is taken by Ashley Young.

Brentford make two changes to the side that trounced Luton last weeklend. Ivan Toney and Christian Noorgard come into the side, with Mikkel Damsgard and Keane Lewis-Potter dropping to the substitutes’ bench.

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Everton: Pickford, Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young, Harrison, Gueye, Garner, McNeil, Doucoure, Chermiti.

Subs: Keane, Onana, Danjuma, Virginia, Andre Gomes, Lonergan, Warrington, Hunt, Metcalfe.

Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Pinnock, Reguilon, Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa.

Subs: Valdimarsson, Schade, Jorgensen, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Roerslev, Yarmolyuk.

Early team news

Long-term Brentford absentees Josh Dasilva, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry and Ben Mee are all out for the rest of the season, while loanee striker Neal Maupay can’t play in this game because it’s against his parent club. England hopeful Ivan Toney is facing a late fitness test after a short spell out with a hip injury.

Beto misses out for Everton after being stood down under the concussion protocols, while Seamus Coleman and Lewis Dobbin are also absent with injury. Vitaly Mykolenko is unlikely to be fit as he recovers from an ankle injury, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is also a doubt after playing through illness to help put Liverpool to the sword on Wednesday night.

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All but mathematically safe from relegation on the back of a midweek derby win that almost certainly smithereened the title hopes of their bitter rivals Liverpool, Everton’s players, manager and fans are likely to be in an extremely jubilant mood at Goodison Park this evening. They welcome a Brentford side who will be in similarly upbeat mood, having guaranteed themselves another season in the top flight with their emphatic win over Luton Town last Saturday.

Whether or not Everton’s players will be able to scale similarly dizzy heights to those of Wednesday night against significantly less exalted and loathed opposition remains to be seen and Brentford’s players arrive having had the benefit of a midweek rest. There’s little beyond pride at stake for either side but we’ll find out how up for the challenge they are come 5.30pm (BST).