Danny Ings continued his good goalscoring season as Southampton drew at Everton in an entertaining mid-table Premier League match.
Saints had the better chances and captain James Ward-Prowse fired a penalty against the crossbar after he was fouled by Andre Gomes.
Ings opened the scoring with a clever finish after latching on to a misplaced shot from Stuart Armstrong - who had earlier had a goal disallowed for offside.
Richarlison equalised against the run of play from Lucas Digne's wonderful 40-yard cross-field ball.
The Saints could have gone down to 10 men when Jan Bednarek fouled Richarlison on the edge of the area but he stayed on the pitch after a video assistant referee consultation.
Everton and Southampton - who both had spells in the relegation zone before Christmas - remain 11th and 12th respectively, safe from relegation but unlikely to threaten the European places.
Ings - the joint third top scorer in the Premier League - had another fine performance up front for Southampton and was involved in most of their best moves.
His cross was turned across goal by Che Adams to Armstrong, whose hooked shot was ruled out for offside.
The former Liverpool striker then went close to giving the Saints the lead when his header was tipped on to the crossbar by Jordan Pickford.
Ings, whose form will surely revive his one-cap England career, also created chances for Ward-Prowse and Adams, whose shots were blocked.
They will probably wish he had taken the penalty when Gomes brought down Ward-Prowse. But the Saints captain stepped up himself and blasted the ball off the bar, making him only the second player to miss two Premier League penalties this season.
But Ings got his goal when he cleverly used his right foot to take the ball past Pickford from Armstrong's scuffed effort before slotting home with his left foot.
Ings has now scored in five different Premier League games against Everton, without winning any of them. But his 19th league goal of the season means only Saints legend Matt le Tissier (25) and James Beattie (23) have ever scored more Premier League goals in a season for the club.
The Saints - who had 17 shots - should have put the game to bed before Everton's comeback.
They were not as impressive after that, with Adams' saved shot from a clever Ings backheel seconds after the restart their only effort on target in the second half.
Not much to encourage Everton
Southampton will be happy with their mid-table position - in a season when they lost 9-0 at home to Leicester - but Everton have loftier ambitions, with multiple Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti in charge.
They could have been 3-0 down before they scored their equaliser, which was excellently worked.
Digne sprayed a classy pass from near the halfway line which Richarlison controlled and then fired in over the head of Alex McCarthy from the edge of the area.
Playing a counter-attacking game, with only 39.2% possession, they held their own in the second half but do not look a team on the verge of anything special.
The game could have changed if the Saints had gone down to 10 men when Bednarek felled Richarlison on the edge of the area - but the defender was only booked, and very little happened in the final 30 minutes.
'We were unlucky we only took one point' - manager reaction
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti: "The performance of the referee was like my team: not so good.
"The performance was not good in the first half, much better the second half and we were more in control.
"It was a fantastic goal from Richarlison, but we were lucky in the first half, we didn't deserve to be drawing."
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl: "Every week Danny Ings pushes hard and works hard for the team.
"When he scored he knows how important he is for our side. The rest were playing also well - we had a few chances and we were unlucky we only took one point.
"I would have liked to have seen a third win in a row - we didn't do it so far - but when you've conceded an equaliser sometimes the tables can turn."
Man of the match - Danny Ings (Southampton)
Match stats - Ings opens the scoring more than anyone else
- Everton are unbeaten in 10 Premier League games at Goodison Park (W5 D5), their longest run since December 2016 (11 games).
- Southampton have earned 27 points away from home this season, the fourth most of any Premier League side after Liverpool (41), Chelsea (30) and Manchester City (28).
- Everton forward Richarlison scored his 30th Premier League goal. He is the fifth Brazilian to reach this figure after Roberto Firmino (56), Philippe Coutinho (41), Gabriel Jesus (38) and Willian (37).
- Southampton striker Danny Ings has scored in five separate Premier League games against Everton but has never beaten them - only Alan Shearer v Liverpool (seven) and Teddy Sheringham v Chelsea (six) have scored in more games against an opponent without finishing on the winning side.
- Ings scored the opening goal for the ninth time in the Premier League this season, the most of any player.
- He has scored 44% of Southampton's league goals this this season (19/43); this is the largest share of team goals for any player at any side in the competition this campaign.
- After scoring with his first four penalty attempts, James Ward-Prowse has now missed consecutive penalties in the Premier League - he is the first Southampton player to do so.
What's next?
Both sides are away to Champions League hopefuls in their next games. Everton visit Wolves at 12:00 BST on Sunday with Southampton going to Manchester United the following day at 20:00.
Comments