Andre Gomes will be key as Everton look to bring their season back on track.
Everton’s terrible run in the Premier League finally ended as they picked up three crucial points against West Ham United on Saturday. Marco Silva was feeling the heat after their dismal start which saw them lose four games on the bounce after September’s international break.
Thankfully for the Everton boss, his side dominated the game and were unlucky to have not scored more than the two goals that they managed. Silva can breathe easy for another week at least but with a tough away game at Brighton coming up, he needs to identify his strengths and weaknesses early.
Bernard, Richarlison, Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi will get the plaudits for their outstanding performance on Saturday but Andre Gomes quietly showed why he has been the missing piece in Silva’s puzzle during the dismal run.
Gomes played just six minutes in Everton’s four consecutive defeats over the last month. The Toffees were overly dependent on Gylfi Sigurdsson for his creativity during the Portuguese international’s absence due to injury but that cost them dearly.
On Saturday, Gomes played in a deeper midfield role with Alex Iwobi ahead of him in the number 10 position. The former Arsenal man’s tendency to drift wide created space in front of Gomes which helped Everton in their transitional play.
Fabian Delph and Morgan Schneiderlin both struggled to make use of the space in front of them which made it easy for the opponents to eliminate the threat. Now that Gomes is back in action, Everton look a lot more balanced and they don’t have to completely rely upon their wide players to create chances.
Gomes’ return from injury has come at the perfect time for Silva and the Portuguese international’s all-round performances will be key for Everton to turn their season around by the end of this calendar year.
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