Fairly merely: who noticed that coming?
On one hand you will have the house crew, Brighton, who’re pushing for Europe after an excellent season, and will nonetheless harbour some exterior hopes of stealing a spot within the high 4.
On the opposite, you will have visiting Everton, within the relegation zone and with fewer targets than another crew within the Premier League.
You’ll be forgiven for chalking this one up as a win for the Seagulls and forgetting all about it. However then you definitely would have didn’t take note of Sean Dyche.
A stonking 5-1 win for the Toffees, with braces from Abdolaye Doucoure and Dwight McNeil, has lifted Everton out of the underside three and given them a aim distinction that spells hassle for Southampton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest.
So how did Dyche do it?
Roberto De Zerbi’s crew have been enjoying pleasant possession soccer up to now this season, and Everton’s set-up for this weekend’s sport was basically: to allow them to do this.
Sitting deep and slim, they pushed Brighton’s play out broad, whereas refusing to permit them any kind of apparent area within the centre of the pitch, nullifying their attacking choices.
For lengthy durations of the sport, the ball was in Everton’s half, however with Brighton unable to do something with it.
However that is the form of method that will earn you a hard-fought 0-0 draw away from dwelling. And Everton did not get a hard-fought 0-0 draw away from dwelling. They gained 5-1.
What Everton did was capitalise on the truth that Brighton had performed Manchester united simply three days earlier than, in a match that had run to 100 whole minutes lengthy. The Toffees, in the meantime, had not performed in over per week – that means they may play successfully on the break as Brighton legs began to tire.
And if you wish to see precisely how they used that to their benefit, effectively, you may have to observe the video above…
