Leicester City - Everton Recap

 

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Leicester City 0 - Everton 2

The Toffees put together another fantastic performance Wednesday afternoon against the 4th place Leicester City squad. Carlo Ancelotti went with the same lineup from Saturday, except with Robin Olsen in goal over Jordan Pickford. It wasn't a benching for Pickford, he injured himself against Chelsea while trying to cover up his only mistake of the match. Olsen was able to score a clean sheet today, Everton's 3rd of the campaign. A lot of the credit for that should go to the back four of Mason Holgate, Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, and Michael Keane. All four had good performances again, including a goal from Mason Holgate in the second half.

Richarlison opened the scoring in the 21st minute with a perfectly aimed shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. Kasper Schmeichel, Leicester's keeper, had a chance to make the save, but was too far away to get enough on it to knock it away. It wasn't a great strike from Richarlison, but it was in the one place Schmeichel would have trouble with it. Not Richy's best goal, but certainly not a weak one either.

 Everton's star holding midfielder, Allan, injured his hamstring at the end of the first half and was unable to finish the match. He had to be stretchered off the pitch. If Allan is out for a long period of time, Everton could struggle defensively a bit. Abdoulaye Doucoure was the perfect partner for Allan, and now Doucoure is likely going to be playing with Andre Gomes, Tom Davies, or even a returning Jean-Phillipe Gbamin for the next few weeks. 

Mason Holgate's 72nd minute goal was enough to put the game away. He scored off a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner, which was first headed by Richarlison, then kicked by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and then finally put in the net by Mason Holgate. It was as chaotic as it sounds. Richarlison picked up a wrist injury, but he was able to stay in the game and be productive. 

Andre Gomes tried his hardest to concede a penalty on Ayoze Perez later in the half. It was overturned by the VAR and referee Jonathan Moss after a few minutes of deliberation. It was such a stupid challenge by Gomes that it almost should've been a penalty just based on that.  Everton then went on to close out the remaining 10 minutes and secure the three points. 

Deciding on a Man of the Match for Everton today is awfully tough. I almost want to give it to the whole back four, but then you're missing out on Doucoure, Richarlison, Alex Iwobi, and Robin Olsen. Even Gylfi Sigurdsson could be thrown in there for this attacking creativity and solid defense. I'm going to go with Michael Keane though. He's the most important link of that group of defenders and he put together another great performance leading to the clean sheet. Mason Holgate and Richarlison are right behind him as the two goal scorers today. 

The victory today puts Everton in 5th place for now. West Ham could pass them in the next few hours with a win. Everton's next match is against Arsenal on Saturday. They'll be back home at Goodison Park with a chance to add 3 points over a struggling Arsenal team.