James Rodriguez dished up a reminder of his rare talent with a super goal to draw first blood for Everton in an absorbing tussle with Leicester City on Wednesday.

The away side cleared their heads to mount a sustained push to level after half-time and got their equaliser courtesy of Youri Tielemans’ low strike on 67 minutes.

Everton remained seventh after adding one point to their tally, on the fringes of the top four and with games in hand on all but one of the teams above them.

Here, we look at some of the things we've learned from Everton’s first Premier League game since winning at Wolverhampton Wanderers a fortnight ago...

Dynamic Digne

Lucas Digne doesn’t hide the fact he’d stick at left-back given the choice.

Equally, he’s had two straight games on the left of midfield and presented a very good case in both for playing the advanced role more often.

It works especially well in matches when Everton are likely to spend more time without the ball than with it.

Digne instinctively drops to form a back five when his team are defending and, as a result, opponents are stifled on Everton’s left flank.

The Frenchman and Ben Godfrey add up to a formidable barrier and in two games together – the first was at Wolverhampton Wanderers two weeks ago – have yielded nothing.

Everton made do with only 35 per cent of the ball against Leicester.

That was by design rather than accident, as manager Carlo Ancelotti explained post-match, but it creates a duty to capitalise on the possession you do have.

Digne’s crossing and combination play both come from the top drawer and there can’t be many footballers better at dispatching controlled first-time passes on the full.

His classy touch to James Rodriguez from Andre Gomes’ arcing cross-field ball in the build-up to the Colombian's goal followed on from a wonderful, volleyed cross for Alex Iwobi to score against Wolves.

The relentless Digne supplied eight crosses on Wednesday. He has delivered 75 in all this season – seventh most in the Premier League despite missing eight games.

If he’d played all 18 games and maintained that output, Digne would be top of the crossing chart.

Even returning to left-back for the closing 10 minutes, Digne bombed forwards to lift a delivery onto Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s head for a late chance.

The 27-year-old wore the armband against Leicester and, for its feisty and classy qualities, this was a proper captain’s performance.

Setting Standards

Yerry Mina’s prolonged wail of frustration at full-time told you everything you needed to know about Everton’s intentions prior to this game.

The final quarter hour contained evidence of a desire to complete a league double over one of the Premier League’s strongest teams.

It felt like momentum was with Leicester when Youri Tielemans found the bottom corner but there was no suggestion of Everton protecting their point.

Carlo Ancelotti sent on Alex Iwobi in place of Mason Holgate for the closing 10 minutes and Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Andre Gomes all had late sights of goal.

Michael Keane’s sentiments after the game supported what we’d heard from defensive partner Mina.

Keane admitted Everton had been “desperate” to win.

“We set high standards for ourselves and have proven in the past couple of months what we are capable of doing,” he added.

The Anglo-Colombian duo of Keane and Mina have been Everton’s centre-half pairing in seven of the past eight Premier League games.

From 21 points available in those matches, Ancelotti’s side has claimed 17, dropping points only in the Leicester draw and with an identical result at Burnley last month.

There have been three clean sheets and the four goals conceded have all been treated as personal affronts.

Everton’s centre-backs won every high ball against Leicester and there was a fine sliding penalty-box intervention from Keane to prevent the impressive Harvey Barnes’ incisive pass reaching James Maddison.

Late in the first half Kasper Schmeichel reached the end of his tether and, in colourful terms, told his teammates, ‘You’re better than this”.

The outburst was understandable but it would be closer to the truth to state Everton weren’t allowing Leicester to gain rhythm.

When the visitors did build up a head of steam, Everton put their bodies on the line to resist.

Ben Godfrey, for one, blocked three shots and completed three interceptions and two clearances.

Everton attained their customary standards for endeavour and intent – and it’s a mark of enormous progress that they were unwilling to say the same about the final result.

James’ Sparkler One For The Team

James Rodriguez will rightly take all the plaudits for his quite beautiful goal to put Everton in front.

The Colombian can probably argue he should claim the assist, too, after James’ attempted cross arrived back at his feet via Wesley Fofana’s half clearance.

It didn’t look possible for James to score as he regained possession.

But if we didn’t expect him to shoot, we probably haven’t been watching closely enough.

Kasper Schmeichel didn’t have a prayer of getting anywhere near a jackhammer of a strike, let alone saving it.

The ball cannoning into the net off the inside of Schmeichel’s left post was good for the aesthetics, too.

This is what you get with a player of James’ singular ability.

Everton had repelled early Leicester pressure and there was nothing in the game at all after 30 minutes.

A goal didn’t seem imminent but, again, with James on the pitch, perhaps that last sentiment should always be sounded with a caveat.

There was more to Everton’s opening goal than the brilliance of one man, however.

Seconds before the ball flashed past Schmeichel, the home side were under the hammer.

Mason Holgate was under pressure as he steered a pass infield for Tom Davies.

Davies was hurried, too, and needed to be quick off the mark and aware of what was around him to punch the ball 10 yards ahead of him for Andre Gomes.

Receiving the ball at the tip of a neat triangle, the Portuguese knew Lucas Digne would be motoring forwards but had a quick look nonetheless.

The raking ball was spot on and Digne employed his underrated skill of passing first time on the volley, this one more delicate than the flash across the box for Alex Iwobi a fortnight ago.

James gathered Digne’s touch and served the ball into the penalty area but was quickly reunited with his best friend after Fofana’s unconvincing clearance.

The South American thought better of trying to cross a second time, seeing an opportunity few others did and scoring his fourth goal from 12 Premier League starts.

Midfield Duo Step Up

With Abdoulaye Doucoure suspended – and missing his first Premier League game this season – and injury still sidelining Allan, Everton’s midfield was manned by Tom Davies and Andre Gomes.

The pair sat resolutely in front of their back four, cutting off the supply line to Leicester playmaker James Maddison.

Davies never let Maddison out of his sight, keeping a close watch on a player capable of ruthlessly exploiting space in front of opposition defences.

Indeed, Maddison showed he’s very dangerous without any room at all when curling centimetres over from 25 yards.

Davies revealed earlier this season he’d been studying footage of Allan spoiling and intercepting and disrupting attacks.

And Allan would have been glad to call one Davies interception his own, the Englishman tracking back into the Everton box and stopping a Maddison pass reaching Harvey Barnes in a dangerous spot.

Davies made three interceptions in all, adding to Gomes’ four tackles, as the pair mixed subtlety and strength to thwart Leicester.

Crucially, Davies and Gomes didn’t allow their defensive duties to become all consuming.

Davies was involved when Everton began feeling their way into the game as an attacking unit just past the quarter hour.

He fed a return pass for Lucas Digne to deliver a searching cross and moments later unleashed an effort which flew over the top.

In the lead up to Everton’s goal, meanwhile, Gomes, sent the ball on an unerring 40-yard journey for Lucas Digne, who provided the final pass before James took over in his own inimitable style.

Gomes struck more accurate long passes (five) than any of his teammates and his five dribbles – including a stirring late surge deep into Leicester territory – was the most of any player on the field.

Davies’ passing was sharp and precise and progressive all night.

His accuracy of 88.5 per cent was bettered only by Leicester defenders Jonny Evans and James Justin, both typically choosing less chancy options.

Davies was typically moving the ball from inside his own half, while Gomes came into possession higher up the field and provided a sound final delivery.

Questions over squad depth come with the territory when ambitions are high and Davies and Gomes provided an encouraging answer over the strength of Everton's midfield pool here.

Ancelotti Can Look To Good Future

Playing Leicester City at home amounts to one of the stiffest examinations the Premier League has to offer.

Brendan Rodgers’ side came to Goodison Park boasting the division’s second-best away record after claiming 22 points from their opening nine games on the road.

Of the 13 goals Manchester City have conceded in 19 league matches this term, five were scored in a whacking by Leicester at the Etihad Stadium.

Leicester won at Arsenal and Tottenham and scored four in victory at Leeds.

Everton nevertheless had memories of a consummate 2-0 win in the reverse fixture only six weeks ago to keep them warm.

Additionally, they’d won five of their past six league matches and this was an opportunity to keep breathing down Leicester’s neck, with two games in hand.

A pair of games falling foul to coronavirus meant Carlo Ancelotti’s side played only four times in the Premier League between their visit to Leicester and this return – an odd occurrence in a uniquely congested season.

They won three of those matches since 16 December, while Leicester were accumulating 14 points from six games, without losing.

In short, then, it was clear why manager Ancelotti viewed this as a fixture where he would learn about his team’s longer-term prospects for the season.

Everton would know more about their outlook, claimed the Italian, after this match and Saturday's home encounter with Newcastle United.

"I hope it can be a good future," laughed Ancelotti.

The first half of that double home date suggests Ancelotti can cast an optimistic glance forward.

Leicester were every bit as difficult as anticipated, aggressive in terms of their attacking and competitive streak.

They didn't buckle after falling behind and were never going to.

Everton matched their opponents, though, and twice at the end had chances to win it, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both off target with headed efforts.

Ancelotti's side has amassed 16 points from their past seven games and are very nicely poised to climb the Premier League table.

Their first opportunity to do that comes in fewer than 48 hours when Newcastle come to Goodison and Ancelotti will learn more about his side's prospects for this season.