Seamus Coleman’s brilliant second-half goal gave Everton a huge win over relegation-threatened teammate Leeds United at Goodison Park on Saturday night.
The Everton captain scored the only goal of the game in the 64th minute when he capitalized on a catastrophic mistake by Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
The 34-year-old’s effort from the right flank came in when Meslier failed to cover his first post.
The pre-match talk revolved around which of the two teams could claim victory in what was dubbed a monumental Premier League six-pointer to get out of the relegation zone.
Sean Dyche has an instant impact
The result sees Sean Dyche take 2 wins from his first 3 games in charge of the Toffees lifting them out of the relegation zone to climb to 16th. Leeds, without a manager since Jesse Marsch was sacked, are in deep trouble as they fall to 19th place without a win in their last five league games.
The hosts were by far the better of the two teams as they put Leeds under pressure by playing with more desire and intent, much of which was missing under previous manager Frank Lampard.
Amadou Onana squandered a glorious opportunity on 30 minutes when he shot over the bar after some great work on the right wing from Idrissa Gueye.
A minute later, Patrick Bamford drilled his shot just wide after a devastating Leeds counter-attack.
Everton then came close once more as they were denied the line twice in quick succession.
First, Conor Coady’s header was cleared by Maximilian Wober before Neil Maupay was denied by Weston McKennie by a matter of seconds. Crysencio Summerville then headed in some more before the two teams headed into the tunnel after the end of the first half.
It was all Everton in the second half as Leeds failed to pick up any kind of momentum. After Coleman scored past the hour mark, the traveling team didn’t trouble Jordan Pickford on Everton’s goal as the hosts held on to pick up three big points on the day.
Speaking about the win, Dyche said:
“I am very happy, I asked the players for their maximum effort and today they gave it to me. We limit them, I think, I need to verify, to not having a shot on goal and it starts from the forward players. Scoring goals in this industry requires freedom and there is tightness in the box. If you shoot and miss. It doesn’t bother me, as long as you shoot. That freedom will grow with performances and confidence. We got the ball in good areas and we were able to score more. But I will accept 1-0.”
Photo credit: IMAGO / Sportimage
