Full Time
Hull City and Everton drew 2-2 at the MKM Stadium in Matchweek 6, with Mohamed Belloumi's late equaliser from the bench keeping Hull unbeaten at home. Joe Gelhardt put Hull ahead in the 48th minute, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall levelled in the 55th and Thierno Barry made it 2-1 to Everton in the 68th, before Belloumi's left-footed shot flew past Jordan Pickford in the 74th. Barry had missed an open goal earlier, so there was some redemption in the air all round. It's Everton's sixth league game unbeaten, though David Moyes wasn't pleased, saying his side's level was "way below" recent performances. Hull, who made 18 signings in the summer, are getting plenty out of the players who got them promoted.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Matchweek 6 and this is a proper top-half scrap. Hull are 5th on 8 points, Everton sit a point behind on 7 and the pair of them have only lost once between them all season. Win and you can say the quiet bit out loud: this might not be a relegation year. Lose and the early-season glow gets a bit dimmer.
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2Hull were last in the top flight in 2016/17, and went down that year, so being back at all is the story. They were widely tipped to go straight back down, then opened with a 2-0 win over Manchester United. Everton are the old-money visitors who haven't lost all season, but four of their five games ended level, which is a very Everton way to be unbeaten.
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3Watch Thierno Barry, Everton's striker, who scored the 1-0 winner against Ipswich before the break. He is the answer to the question 'who actually scores for Everton?', which they have been asking for a while. If he scores again, you can say he's settling in, and sound like you've been watching all along. Hull's counter is Oli McBurnie, the man who won them promotion with a stoppage-time play-off winner.
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4Late team news matters here. Everton are without Merlin Rohl, and Vitalii Mykolenko and Christian Norgaard are fitness doubts. Hull have a long injury list too, including Jack Butland and Hidemasa Morita, and Tim Iroegbunam, a former Everton midfielder, is a doubt. Previews expect a tight, set-piece-heavy afternoon where neither side wants it open.
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5The hook is the draws. Both sides have been involved in a pile of them, and Everton's record is one win and four draws from five. Previews are tipping another one. Bet on a 0-0 or 1-1 and you will look wise, bet on a thriller and you will look like you've never seen either team play. Kick-off is 2pm UK time, so it's a perfectly good Sunday lunch soundtrack.
Team Talking Points
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1Hull lost 1-0 at league leaders Arsenal on Saturday. Martin Ødegaard pounced on a rebound in the 72nd minute after Hull's keeper parried a Noni Madueke shot. Losing narrowly at the Emirates is no disgrace for a promoted side, and Hull fans know it.
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2Manager Sergej Jakirovic was bullish afterwards. He reckoned Hull were the better team on performance and had enough chances to win, adding that the side is 'still growing'. Arsenal fans would disagree, but it's a nice sign that he's not playing for damage limitation.
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3The season started like a dream. Hull had seven points from their first three games and briefly sat second, behind only Manchester City. They haven't won a league game since August, though. It's a winless run of the sort that slowly turns a fairytale into a relegation conversation.
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4Jakirovic only arrived in the summer of 2025 and took Hull up through the Championship play-offs at the first attempt. That's a genuinely impressive bit of work, and Hull fans are still very much on his side. Credit him and you'll be on safe ground.
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5The last outing before Arsenal was a 2-2 draw with fellow promoted side Ipswich, where Hull let a lead slip. Jakirovic publicly demanded better 'control' when they're ahead. Throwing away winning positions is the recurring theme of their autumn.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Hull went to the Emirates and made Arsenal sweat. They just need to remember how to actually win one before the winless run starts to matter.
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Avoid saying
"Hull will be straight back down" — said with total confidence in August, it looked silly when they were second in the table, and fans have not forgotten who was saying it.
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1Everton are fifth in the Premier League after coming from behind to beat promoted Coventry 3-1 last Friday. It was their third league win in a row. If you'd told an Everton fan a couple of years ago they'd be looking down on most of the league in November, they'd have asked what you were drinking.
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2Thierno Barry was the hero, scoring twice in about four minutes and setting up another, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding the third. Barry is the name to drop right now. He's turned into exactly the kind of big, awkward centre-forward Goodison fans always loved, now playing at the new stadium.
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3David Moyes was refreshingly honest afterwards. He admitted Coventry made it 'really difficult' and Everton were lucky not to concede a penalty for a James Tarkowski challenge before half-time. Managers who admit they got away with one are rare, so enjoy it.
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4That win was Moyes's 592nd game in charge of Everton, level with Harry Catterick for the most in the club's history. Catterick won two league titles, so it's a proper bit of company. Assuming he's in the dugout at Brentford on 23 November, Moyes takes the record outright.
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5The fixture list after the break is spicy, with a Merseyside derby against Liverpool coming up in the next few weeks. For the first time in a long while, Everton might go into it higher up the table than their neighbours care to admit.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Moyes is about to become the longest-serving manager in Everton's history, and the team's actually playing like it. Fifth in November isn't a fluke anymore.
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Avoid saying
"Everton are always in a relegation scrap" — that line was depressingly accurate for a while, which is exactly why fans in the top five will take great pleasure in correcting you.