Barclays Premier League:

Swansea City 1–1 Everton

Jordan Ayew's second half goal rescued a point for Swansea City against Everton at the Liberty Stadium - but the home side were left frustrated at not taking more from a game they bossed for large periods.

Sure enough, after dominating the first 45 minutes, Carlos Carvalhal would have been wondering how his side were trailing at the interval after showing a tempo and urgency badly missing in their recent trips to Manchester United and West Brom.

Ayew returned to the starting line-up from his three match ban after being sent off at Huddersfield last month, and sure enough, he was involved in most of Swansea’s early attacking moves, playing a slick one-two with Tom Carroll before a retreating Idrissa Gueye intervened with the Ghanaian set to pull the trigger.

It was Ayew’s low left foot cross that just evaded Luciano Narsingh, and Ki’s low 20 yard shot was easily held by Jordan Pickford.

The keeper was then forced to head away under pressure from Keane’s lazy chipped back pass, a moment which summed up Everton’s lack of urgency in the opening 20 minutes.

The pressure continued as the Swans blew two great chances to lead in quick succession.

Carroll and Narsingh combined to tee up Jordan Ayew from close range, but with the goal at his mercy, his effort deflected to safety off Leighton Baines.

From Carrol’s in-swinging corner that followed, Federico Fernandez saw his header cleared off the line by Everton striker Cenk Tosun.

The Ayew brothers then fashioned the next big chance, Jordan flicking into the path of Andre, who held off Phil Jagielka in the area but put his left foot shot too close to Pickford.

As the half wore on, the visitors did finally begin to show some threat and Keane headed wastefully onto the top of the net after Fabianski had failed to gather Wayne Rooney’s floated free kick.

But still, the goal two minutes before the break was totally against the run of play, and it came in almost comical circumstances.

Seamus Coleman’s cross to the back post was met by Bolasie, who forced a Smart save out of Fabianski and the Polish international was quickly back to his feet to block Gueye’s follow up - but his save only rebounded off Naughton and although Mawson hooked clear, referee Lee Mason’s watch indicated the ball had already crossed the line.

The irony wasn't lost on the away fans, who serenaded the Liberty with songs suggesting they were winning despite playing poorly. The actual version contained a lot more expletives than that.

It was Swansea who again came out on the front foot after the break, and Carroll should have done better when his free header was saved by a diving Pickford, before the England keeper beat away Andre Ayew's angled shot.

As the home side's frustration grew, Jordan Ayew clattered into Baines on half-way and would have been relieved to only see yellow, while The Toffees started to exploit the extra space on the break as Theo Walcott's cross was headed tamely wide by an unmarked Gueye.

At the other end Nathan Dyer, on at half time for the injured Narsingh, fired over from 18 yards before on 72 minutes, finally the Jack Army had a goal to celebrate.

And it came from the best player on the pitch, as after Mawson's goal bound header had been half cleared, a brief scramble ended with Carroll's sliced effort falling perfectly for Jordan Ayew, and he controlled well before burying a shot back across Pickford and into the far corner.

But if that was the signal for Carvalhal's side to press on and win the game, then moments later they were left grateful for a big miss by Seamus Coleman, who rounded off a flowing Everton move by crashing a close range shot against the bar from Walcott's low cross.

And then Swansea had their own big opportunity, as Carroll's free kick was headed down by Jordan Ayew into the path of Tammy Abraham, but the sub put his left foot volley over from 10 yards when he should have done better.

Yet, as both sides sought a winner, again Sam Allardyce's side nearly nicked it when a Baines free kick evaded everyone, including the sliding Ramiro Funes Mori who was just inches from a touch.

But 1-1 was how it finished, and while Southampton's defeat to Chelsea earlier in the day meant the draw edged Carvalhal's side further away from the bottom three - the manager and his players will know that on the balance of play it was two points dropped.

Swansea City: Lukasz Fabianski, Kyle Naughton, Alfie Mawson, Federico Fernandez (capt), Martin Olsson, Andy King, Ki Sung-Yueng (Tammy Abraham 65), Tom Carroll, Luciano Narsingh (Nathan Dyer half time), Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew.

Subs not used:  Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Mike van her Hoorn, Wayne Routledge, Kyle Bartley, Connor Roberts.

Everton: Jordan Pickford, Seamus Coleman, Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka (capt), Leighton Baines, Yannick Bolasie (Ramiro Funes Mori 76), Morgan Schneiderlin, Theo Walcott, Idrissa Gueye (Beni Baningime 69), Wayne Rooney (Nikola Vlasic 87), Cenk Tosun.

Subs not used: Joel Robles, Cuco Martina, Oumar Niasse, Tom Davies.

Referee: Lee Mason.

Attendance: 20, 933.