Use your head and sign up now for the Everton FC newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

In keeping with his calm nature, Carlo Ancelotti had insisted he was relaxed about being without Richarlison.

Perhaps he hadn't realised Everton 's record without him.

And after this low-key and at times, drab, draw with West Ham , maybe he will plan with greater concern the next time the Brazilian is missing.

But let's hope it's not a problem the Italian has to deal with anytime soon because this was the fourth time the Blues have been without Richarlison for a league game, and the fourth time they have failed to win.

There is always more to it than the influence of one player but it's an unsettling statistic nonetheless, especially when you consider the opposition in those games the Brazilian has missed have been West Ham, twice, Huddersfield Town and a Spurs side with nothing to play for on the final day of last season.

A total of three points from a possible 12 does little to dispel the growing belief that Everton are significantly weakened without him.

At hearing a knee injury would keep the 22-year-old out of the game, fans instantly looked at this trip to the London Stadium differently.

You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone, is the saying, but Evertonians know exactly what Richarlison brings to the party and his absence was, without question, felt this afternoon. You feared it would be.

Not only his threat in front of goal, his ability to stretch defenders or, as shown against Brighton last week, conjure game-turning moments of skill, but also in his relentless defensive work and, specifically here, his importance in repelling set-pieces.

Was Richarlison being sidelined the only reason for Everton just doing enough for a draw? No, there were other factors at play, namely a sloppy, error-strewn first-half full of misplaced passes - in which it took half an hour for a first shot to be mustered - that was only salvaged by Dominic Calvert-Lewin nodding in an equaliser from a corner after Issa Diop had headed David Moyes' side in front.

(Image: (Photo by Tony McArdle /Everton FC via Getty Images))

Everton's second-half performance had more intent about it and offered improvements but the still Blues' struggled to create many clear cut opportunities. Few were complaining about the result and both defences were comfortable in seeing this game out.

And it is perhaps no coincidence, and maybe of little surprise, to learn that in the four league games under Ancelotti in which Everton have enjoyed more possession than the opposition (the one they didn't being against Man City, of course) today's game produced the fewest number of shots and least number of efforts on target.

The Blues aren't a one-man team but, undoubtedly, they lean heavily on Richarlison for all sorts of reasons and the longer-term task is to bolster a team around him with similar quality.

The short-term one is to make sure he's fit for the visit of Newcastle United on Tuesday night.

At least his striker partner picked up the slack today to ensure a point but Everton failed to offer enough elsewhere to build on Calvert-Lewin's poacher's equaliser, his ninth league goal of the campaign.

And though this was always going to be a question over the performance of Moise Kean, the player directly replacing Richarlison in the starting XI, it was also very much a question about the other players and what they could create.

Bernard was taken off at half-time in a tactical switch before Theo Walcott was subject to the same fate before the hour mark. Ancelotti, clearly, expected much better from his wingers.

As for Kean, a very bright and promising start, would fade and he lasted just over 70 minutes before needing to be replaced.

The teenager's energy levels had, noticeably dropped, his influence was waning and so the Everton manager was left with only Oumar Niasse to bring on for the final 20 minutes, to keep West Ham's adequately harassed and pressed.

You see, Richarlison is, among many other things, long-lasting. He has the engine to run for 90 plus Premier League minutes, he lasts the pace and often does so when having lumps kicked out of him.

It is easy to take these things for granted and, especially on days such as this, you realise that among the aspects of being a centre-forward in England's top flight that Kean needs to work on, endurance is among them.

He can also look at how well Richarlison defends for the team. Kean is showing an appetite to work for the team, no question, but as Diop ghosted in behind the teenager for West Ham's goal, and as Everton's susceptibility from set-pieces was exposed again, it was hard not to wonder if the outcome had been different with the Brazilian forward there to attack Robert Snodgrass' free-kick into the box.

But Kean will learn, and this always felt more about what the collective, rather than the individual, could do in Richarlison's absence today.

Calvert-Lewin kept the team afloat with a goal, and he increasingly linked play well as the afternoon went on, but there wasn't enough, consistently, from the others and there needs to be, especially when the Brazilian can't play.

Luckily, injury has only denied Everton of his services on two occasions (a red card seeing to the other league games) and you may well argue that the Blues were well on their way to victory against Burnley, over a year ago, when he made a scoring introduction from the bench, but you can't disguise the extent of his growing influence on this team.

Mercifully, Ancelotti has been hopeful Richarlison will be fit for the next game. Everton need him.