Thierno Barry's Deflected Goal Extends Everton's Unbeaten Start to Five Games: 1-0 Over Ipswich

David Moyes' Everton stretched their unbeaten start to the season to five matches with a narrow 1-0 win over Ipswich Town at Hill Dickinson Stadium, a game settled by a slice of good fortune in the 11th minute and defended resolutely thereafter — including through a VAR intervention that denied the hosts a more comfortable scoreline.

A deflection settles it early

James Tarkowski's strike from range took a wicked deflection off Thierno Barry, wrong-footing Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton and giving Everton the lead inside the opening quarter of an hour. It proved to be the only goal Everton needed, even if it was not entirely down to design.

A disallowed second, and a red card for Ipswich

Barry thought he had a second in the second half, meeting Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's in-swinging corner with a fine glancing header, only for VAR to rule the goal out — the officials judged Brennan Johnson to have interfered with play from an offside position in the build-up. Ipswich's afternoon got worse from there: Abdul Fatawu was shown a second yellow card and sent off, leaving the visitors to see out the closing stages a man down while chasing a way back into the game that never came.

Everton climb to fifth

The win was Everton's second of the season and lifted David Moyes' side up to fifth in the Premier League table. Coming into the round Everton were eighth with six points from four games — a win and three draws, including the goalless stalemate at Tottenham the previous round — and this victory kept them unbeaten through five matches to open the campaign, a run only Arsenal and Manchester City had bettered before Saturday.

A mixed month for Ipswich continues

For Ipswich, the defeat was a reminder of how inconsistent their opening weeks have been: a win over Sunderland, a heavy loss at Manchester United, another defeat at home to Liverpool, then a fightback win at Crystal Palace, and now this loss at Everton with ten men for the closing stages. Gary O'Neil's side went into the match ninth with six points from four games, and the red card for Fatawu will do their discipline record no favours in the weeks ahead.