‏New West Bromwich Albion head coach Pepe Mel insisted that he will continue to play Nicholas Anelka despite him facing a lengthy FA ban.

‏The French striker could be hit with a minimum five-match ban after being charged by the Football Association over his controversial "quenelle" goal celebration after scoring in a recent game against West Ham United.

It has sparked controversy, particularly in his native France, where it has been declared as anti-semitic and racist.

‏However Mel decided to play Anelka for 77 minutes of his side's 1-1 draw with Everton despite kit sponsors Zoopla — who are ending their association with the Baggies in the summer — insisting the player be dropped for the game.

‏"We needed to win tonight," said the Spaniard.

"Nicolas is a very good player, a very good professional and I am only the head coach. If he is suspended I will not be able to play him, but all we can think of is football matches.

‏"I spoke to him yesterday and asked if he was ready to play. He said he was and it is my obligation to West Bromwich to pick the best team."

‏Mel was unveiled to The Hawthorns crowd for the first time since he took over from Steve Clarke who was placed on gardening leave in December.

‏But his new charges fell behind four minutes before the break when Sylvain Distin's long ball was flicked on by Romelu Lukaku in to the path of Kevin Mirallas. The Belgian outpaced Diego Lugano before neatly slotting the ball past Ben Foster.

‏More than a third of West Brom's goals this season have come on the final 20 minutes of their games so it was no surprise when the home side levelled the score with 15 minutes left to play.

‏Uruguayan defender Lugano stayed up the field of play following a corner and stole the march on Distin head home a James Morrison cross from the edge of the six-yard box.

‏Everton thought they had snatched the win in injury time when Distin turned in Gareth Barry's shot with the final kick of the game, but the defender was clearly in an offside position.

‏After the game Mel was asked if he had enjoyed his first game in charge. He smiled and said: "No. It’s been a very long day, we have been preparing for this since 8am."

‏For Everton manager Roberto Martinez it was only frustration as his side missed the chance to climb into a top-four position in the Premier League.

‏He said: "Overall we are disappointed because of conceding a goal in the manner we did, defending a corner we get done trying to hit a quick counter-attack and then we end up in a freak way not being able to stop the cross and you've got the opposing centre-half in the six-yard box, which is something that doesn't happen too often.

‏"So for those reasons a little bit disappointed but the reality is that away from home we get another point towards our tally. And we knew the home side, with a new manager, was going to be a difficult game for us to control for 90 minutes."