Everton faced off against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns earlier this evening as they looked to earn all three points on the road. Both sides cancelled each other out in the first half and went into the half-time interval with nothing to split them.
The Toffees kept pushing in search of the decisive opening goal and finally found it in the 65th minute when Richarlison scored with a good header from close range. Carlo Ancelotti’s men hung on to their narrow advantage and secured a hard-fought 1-0 win at the West Midlands.
Let’s take a look at how each Everton player fared during the match against the Baggies.
GK: Jordan Pickford – 7/10
The English custodian made some important saves to keep his clean sheet intact. He will be quite happy with his performance this evening.
CB: Mason Holgate – 7.5/10
Holgate was strong in the air and showed great desire to win the ball back for his team. He performed well enough to earn the all-important clean sheet.
CB: Michael Keane – 7/10
The English defensive ace was a commanding figure inside his half and cleared his lines when needed. He did well to keep West Brom’s Mbaye Diagne quiet throughout the 90 minutes.
CB: Ben Godfrey – 7/10
He won a couple of aerial duels and was quite tidy when passing the ball out from the back.
LM: Lucas Digne – 7.5/10
The French talent was defensively solid and showed great desire to get forward and create a couple of inviting chances in the final third.
CM: Andre Gomes – 7/10
Gomes protected his teammates at the back quite well and was quite lively in the Baggies half.
CM: Abdoulaye Doucoure – 6.5/10
He worked hard but struggled to get a stranglehold in the game. Doucoure was replaced after the hour mark.
RM: Alex Iwobi – 7/10
Iwobi had to work hard defensively but even managed to complete some promising dribbles out on the wide areas. However, he was taken off early in the second half.
CAM: Bernard – 6.5/10
The Brazilian attacker had some bright moments in the opposition half but didn’t do enough to get himself a goal.
ST: Richarlison – 8/10
Richarlison was a constant nuisance for the West Brom defenders and deserves a lot of credit for netting the winner with his well-timed header in the second half.
ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 7/10
He was an ideal target man for the Toffees and won a lot of headers for his team. He also engineered some decent openings inside the opponent’s penalty box.
Substitutes:
CM: Allan – 6/10
He added some freshness to the Everton midfield.
CAM: Gylfi Sigurdsson – 7/10
Sigurdsson came off the bench and delivered a brilliant cross in the 64th minute as the ball was met by Richarlison, who made no mistake from close range. It was a nice cameo off the bench from him this evening.
ST: Joshua King – N/A
He hardly had any time to influence the game.
