Everton took advantage of two penalties and a wonderful to come from behind and beat Swansea 3-1. But who were their best performers?
5. Tom Davies
When Tom Davies entered the pitch for Everton, the score was 1-1 and The Toffees were struggling to take the lead. The youngster came on for Morgan Schneiderlin in an effort to add drive into midfield.
And he did just that, as it was Davies’ pass forward that began the move which led to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s critical go-ahead goal. The youngster then put in a solid performance to help Everton hold and even extend that lead.
4. Jonjoe Kenny
Jonjoe Kenny took a lot of heavy hits when he first made his way into the Everton side. Aged just 20, he made quite a few mistakes and let opponents in to score goals. But now under Sam Allardyce he’s beginning to find his feet.
And how wonderful that is for Everton. Kenny was immense against Swansea, winning a perfect 5/5 tackles (more than anyone else on the pitch), making 3 effective clearances, completing 24/36 passes and then winning the penalty that allowed Everton to make it 3-1 and ride out that lead to victory.
3. Idrissa Gueye
Protecting the defence of a Sam Allardyce side can often be a thankless task, given that his sides tend to be so defence-oriented that people don’t recognise your quality and give all the praise to the centre-backs.
Idrissa Gueye was superb against Swansea, repeatedly stepping in to intervene when it looked like the Welsh side may actually mount something like an effective attack. Gueye won 3/3 tackles and completed 60/71 passes, not only winning the ball back for Everton but also recycling it superbly. He also added 3 effective clearances.
2. Gylfi Sigurdsson
Perhaps it took a match against his old club for Gylfi Sigurdsson to really look like Gylfi Sigurdsson in an Everton kit, but against Swansea the Icelandic international was back in the saddle again.
Gylfi created more chances (3) than any other players. he won 2/3 dribbles attempted too. And of course his most spectacular contribution was that thunderbolt of a strike from the edge of the box to give Everton a lead they never surrendered. Has Gylfi finally arrived under Big Sam? We hope so!
1. Dominic Calvert-Lewin
The importance of scoring first to Sam Allardyce’s sides is paramount. One of Allardyce’s foundational philosophies is to not be behind for too long. So when Everton conceded first against Swansea, one could have been understandably nervous.
And when Wayne Rooney took a poor penalty just shy of half-time, seeing Lukas Fabianski palm it away with Everton already 1-0 down, the worry that this may be the game where the good times end, was very real.
But then Dominic Calvert-Lewin pounced onto the loose ball and slotted it home through a crowd superbly, equalising for Everton and giving then equal footing to chase the winner.
It was a huge goal, and capped off a great game for the youngster who took five shots, won 1/1 dribbles and won 8/14 aerial duels as he led the line for the Toffees once more.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
