Everton replacing Romelu Lukaku with Watford’s Troy Deeney wouldn’t look the most inspired signing, but Arsenal now know just how dangerous Deeney can be.
Deeney did everything Watford manager Marco Silva would have hoped for when coming off the bench in Saturday’s clash with Arsenal at Vicarage Road.
The Hornets had possession aplenty, but failed to anything on Gunners goalie Petr Cech until Watford’s rambunctious captain replaced the ineffective Andre Gray with around half an hour remaining. From there on in, it was one-way traffic.
Watford hammered on the Arsenal door and, with Deeney their unstoppable battering ram, turned a 1-0 deficit into a dramatic 2-1 win.
The 29-year-old ended a 14-game barren run, his longest in league football for six years, when slamming home a penalty with 20 minutes to go. And it was his near-post run that eventually led to the ball dropping perfectly for Tom Cleverley to finish gleefully in stoppage time and consign Arsenal to a second successive defeat against The Hornets.
Deeney, Everton’s new Lukaku?
Deeney’s performance was everything Watford had been missing this season. It was also everything summer suitors Everton have lacked since the club sold Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United.
While Deeney is far from the most technical of strikers, and many will scoff at the idea of him leading the line for a side who spent £140 million in the summer, the long-serving skipper’s match-winning cameo against Arsenal explains exactly why the Sun reported Everton wanted him.
The tenacious targetman ran Arsenal’s defence ragged, holding up the ball to get the best out of Watford’s onrushing midfielders while also providing an aerial threat in the six yard box – three attributes Everton are crying out for.
On paper, Deeney is the player who could give The Toffees a much-needed, old-fashioned presence while getting the best out of Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Davy Klaassen.
And that fact should not be lost on Everton manager Ronald Koeman with the January transfer window just over two months away.
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