Sheffield United's chances of qualifying for Europe damaged by Everton

Bramall Lane has staged more Test cricket than European football and that is set to remain the case. Sheffield United have had a wonderful return to the Premier League but their chances of qualifying for the Europa League were dented by Everton.

It amounted to an anticlimactic end to a glorious campaign on their own turf. United’s run of five straight home league wins had included memorable victories over Tottenham and Chelsea, but the insufficiently sharp Blades could not sign off with a sixth.

Richarlison ended Everton’s recent wretched run and rewarded Carlo Ancelotti for a tactical rethink that addressed some of their problems.

But it will not go down as a Premier League classic. The Brazilian's second-half header was the first effort on target. United, the destroyers of Spurs and Chelsea, did not muster any.

As Ancelotti experimented, Richarlison was shifted to the left wing but he showed his striking instincts were still intact for the sole goal. Perhaps more surprisingly, Gylfi Sigurdsson registered an assist.

It was just a third of the season for a supposed set-piece specialist, whose free kick was met by the Brazilian with a brilliant header. It was only Everton’s sixth summer goal.

Sigurdsson had been restored to his preferred position as a No. 10 as Ancelotti tinkered and opted for Marco Silva’s favourite formation, 4-2-3-1. It gave them an extra body in midfield, the department where Everton were weakest when Ancelotti played 4-4-2, and Andre Gomes excelled at the heart of the team, coming close to adding a second goal, while Theo Walcott was influential on the right wing.

The systemic change meant Dominic Calvert-Lewin was left alone in attack and the former Blade, who played for Chris Wilder at Northampton, has not scored in summer and ought to have ended his wait on his return to Bramall Lane.

Calvert-Lewin met Walcott’s cross with a header but, with the goal gaping, he hit the post. Dean Henderson parried a later and deflected shot by Calvert-Lewin, while a poor touch cost him a shooting chance when Gomes picked him out, but his wait continues.

Calvert-Lewin’s header apart, it was a non-event of a first half but that suited the least experienced of a depleted Everton side. The 18-year-old Jarrad Branthwaite, whose season began in League Two, could savour the lack of goalmouth action as he helped record a shutout on his first Premier League start.

The absences of Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate gave him a chance alongside the impressive Michael Keane at centre-back and Branthwaite took it. It meant that, while it was billed as a battle for the England goalkeeping spot, Jordan Pickford hardly had the chance to advance his claims.

Perhaps Pickford’s finest save was when he clawed away Chris Basham’s misdirected cross, which highlighted United’s impotence. Wilder sent out the same 11 responsible for a disappointing display against Leicester but this scarcely qualified as an emphatic response. It has been a stunning season at Bramall Lane, but this certainly was not a fitting finale.

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