Remarkable: Garth Crooks lauds Everton’s Idrissa Gueye after stunning performance against Sunderland

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Everton claimed a 2-0 victory over Sunderland at the weekend, and Idrissa Gueye was a key reason for their win.

Everton’s Idrissa Gueye scores their first goal

Garth Crooks has told BBC Sport that Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye is the closest thing he has seen to Chelsea star N’Golo Kante following his stunning display in the Toffees’ win over Sunderland at the weekend.

Ronald Koeman’s men extended their unbeaten run in the Premier League to nine games as they comfortably dispatched the Black Cats 2-0 at Goodison Park.

Gueye was at the centre of the win, scoring the first and generally putting in a stunning display in the middle of the park to take Everton to within four points of the top six and just six points off the top four, leading Crooks to heap praise upon the former Aston Villa man.

“This player is the nearest thing I’ve seen to N’Golo Kante. His ability to cover the ground is also remarkable,” he told BBC Sport.

Sunderland’s Adnan Januzaj in action with Everton’s Idrissa Gueye

“There are those of us who found running, unless it was absolutely necessary, tedious, but players like Gueye and Kante see it as their life support. They are the coach’s dream, particularly if the coach has little to offer the team other than effort.”

In terms of players to be compared to, there are surely few comparisons that would be as flattering as being mentioned in the same sentence as Kante right now.

Everton’s Idrissa Gueye celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates

The Chelsea man looks set to win his second title in as many seasons in England. And his influence appears to be best summed up by the fact that without him, Chelsea were nowhere in terms of the title race last season, while this term, the Leicester side that he helped lead to glory last year is now fighting for survival without him in their ranks.

And while the Toffees are not quite fighting towards the summit of the table, it must be noted that recently, while they have several impressive players in their squad, they have tended to get positive results when Gueye has played well, and keeping him at Goodison Park in the coming years could be as important as keeping the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley.