Everton entertained Southampton at Goodison Park earlier tonight, hoping to pick up a positive result at home. The Toffees made a dream start to the game as Richarlison scored the opening goal in the ninth minute. The Merseyside outfit hung on to their narrow advantage and went into the half-time interval one goal to the good.
Both sides fought tooth and nail in the second half but struggled to break each other down as the contest finished 1-0 in favour of Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
Let’s take a look at how each Everton player fared during the match against the Saints.
GK: Jordan Pickford – 7/10
The Toffees keeper had to make one save in the whole game and was quite strong in the air. He will be content with the clean sheet tonight.
RB: Mason Holgate – 7/10
Holgate made a couple of important interceptions and was not afraid to clear the danger when called into action.
CB: Michael Keane – 8/10
The English defensive ace was a rock at the back for Everton as he made multiple clearances to restrict the Saints from scoring during the 90 minutes.
CB: Ben Godfrey – 7/10
He put his foot through the ball when required and did enough work defensively to get over the line with the clean sheet in the bag.
LB: Lucas Digne – 7/10
Digne didn’t put a foot wrong inside his half and made one good chance in the attacking third.
CM: Abdoulaye Doucoure – 7.5/10
Doucoure made a few driving runs from midfield and managed to break Southampton’s rhythm in the game at the centre of the park.
CM: Allan – 7/10
The Brazilian midfield ace protected his backline well and was tidy with his ball-distribution.
CM: Andre Gomes – 7.5/10
The Portuguese midfielder won some crucial aerial duels for his team and completed a few promising dribbles during the contest as well.
CAM: Gylfi Sigurdsson – 8/10
The Icelandic international orchestrated several meaningful openings for others around him and has got an assist to show for his efforts.
ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 6.5/10
He had a couple of bright moments but was otherwise quite poor in the final third. However, Calvert-Lewin deserves credit for helping his teammates out at the back by making some clearances throughout the game.
ST: Richarlison – 7/10
The Brazilian attacker took his goal well early in the game, which ultimately made the difference between the two sides.
Substitutes:
LM: Alex Iwobi – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact.
ST: Joshua King – N/A
King came off the bench to run the clock down.
