Mirallas sent off as Everton hold Swansea

The Toffees had the better of the game as their boss Roberto Martinez returned to his former club.

But they missed a host of chances to win an entertaining contest and then saw Mirallas dismissed in stoppage-time for a high tackle on Modou Barrow.

The game was halted early on following a nasty clash of heads in the Everton goalmouth between Toffees defender Phil Jagielka and Swansea forward Andre Ayew.

Jagielka was back on his feet quickly but Ayew needed lengthy treatment both on the field and  on the touchline before returning to the action.

Swansea captain Ashley Williams had to recover his own error when he dived in rashly to bring down Stephen Naismith on the edge of the home penalty area.

Romelu Lukaku blasted the resulting free-kick towards goal but Williams used his head bravely to divert it behind for a corner.

Jagielka was fully recovered and almost opened the scoring when he arrived to meet a corner by Ross Barkley but headed over the crossbar.

In an entertaining opening to the game there were chances for both side and Bafetimbi Gomis twice had the chance to break the deadlock for Swansea.

- Acrobatic -

First he saw an acrobatic effort from a Kyle Naughton cross saved comfortably by Tim Howard in the Everton goal.

Then he raced to intercept a poor pass by Gareth Barry and advanced towards goal but sent an effort wastefully wide.

Everton responded again through Stephen Naismith, who burst beyond the Swansea defence following a neat Everton move but was halted by Federico Fernandez’s super, saving tackle.

Naismith tried his luck again when a corner was cleared to him 20 yards from goal.

His effort flew through a crowd of players an Everton striker Romelu Lukaku tried to deflect it past Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal but the keeper saved comfortably.

Everton left-back Brendan Galloway created a good chance to open the scoring early in the second half with a clever drag-back in Swansea's penalty area, but he sent a firm shot wide of the far post.

Lukaku then had an even better chance when he raced onto a fine pass by Barry and found himself in the clear, but the Belgian fired over the crossbar with only Fabianski to beat.

Then, after Barry was booked for a foul on Naughton, Gylfi Sigurdsson sent a powerful free-kick into the side netting with several thousand Swansea fans mistakenly celebrating a goal.

Williams then cleared off the line to deny Lukaku after his shot had beaten Fabianski and the big striker was denied again by a fabulous block by Neil Taylor on the edge of the area.

In between those efforts Lukaku saw a teasing cross by Toffees substitute Gerard Deulofeu just elude the sliding Naismith.

And Mirallas was dismissed in stoppage-time  for a high challenge on fellow substitute Modou Barrow just moments after replacing Barkley.