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Tag: Everton

  • I’m ready for Everton Cup test – Eric Bailly

    I’m ready for Everton Cup test – Eric Bailly

    Manchester United defender Eric Bailly insists he is ready to start whenever manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer calls upon him.

    United go to Goodison Park to face Everton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

    The defender was involved in both of United’s wins in the competition so far this season – at Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, and he’d love to play a part in our quarter-final tie.

    “I’ve been going step by step and have been training well and I feel good. I’m very happy to be back with the team,” he told manutd.com.

    “In football, this [injuries] can happen sometimes. It’s time to forget now. I’m fit, I’m so happy with how the team is doing and I’m training well. I feel strong and I am ready for my chance to help my team-mates.

    “For me, when you come back from injury and you’re in the squad, you know the manager has confidence in you.

    “Now I keep training well to get my body ready to start. I know I am ready to start, but I will wait to take my chance and enjoy being back out on the pitch.”

  • EPL: Arsenal beaten again as Everton go second

    EPL: Arsenal beaten again as Everton go second

    Arsenal failed to halt their dismal Premier League form as Everton claimed a 2-1 victory to keep the pressure on Mikel Arteta.

    The Gunners fell to their eighth league defeat of the season and Everton move up to second in the table.

    Rob Holding diverted the ball into his own net after a flick-on from Dominic Calvert-Lewin to put Everton 1-0 up.

    Nicolas Pepe then scored from the spot for Arsenal after Tom Davies had kicked Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the box.

    But Everton defender Yerry Mina restored the Toffees’ lead on the stroke of half-time with a header.

  • Ancelotti outwits former player Lampard as Everton down Chelsea

    Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti outwitted his former player Frank Lampard as his side put on a superbly organised performance to beat visitors Chelsea 1-0 in their English Premier League clash on Saturday.

    Ancelotti’s side were happy to let their visitors have the ball but allowed them precious little in the way of goal-scoring chances.

    They snuffed out Chelsea’s high-priced attack in a disciplined defensive display in front of 2,000 fans.

    “I am really pleased, in front of our supporters. We are really happy for them. They have seen a good match from Everton. We played well with fantastic spirit,” Ancelotti said.

    “Defensively we did really well. The team sacrificed. That was the target, because against the tough teams like Chelsea you have to sacrifice.

    “We were dangerous on the counter and we didn’t concede many opportunities. We deserved to win.”

    Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was upended by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, and Gylfi Sigurdsson dispatched the resulting penalty kick for the only goal of the game.

    But Lampard declined to blame his goalkeeper.

    “I don’t think Mendy was just culpable. But he has been outstanding so far. So, I will take that.

    “When teams play long with one of the best strikers in the league, you have to suffer the moments and get through,” Lampard said.

    Though his side remain third in the table, the former Chelsea midfielder dismissed suggestions that they were title challengers alongside leaders Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

    “You have to look at the teams winning it the last three or fours years — they have wingers, strikers scoring 30, 40 goals and winners of Premier League and Champions League,” he said.

    “Coming here to this place, they (Everton) were up for a result and we did not pass the test. We will in the future.”

  • Media don’t rate me in France – Doucoure

    Media don’t rate me in France – Doucoure

    Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure feels he’s underrated in France.

    Doucoure believes he’s never been given fair coverage by the local media.

    The former Watford midfielder said: “I remember when I appeared on [French television channel] Canal Plus. I really didn’t enjoy it. It was at the time when PSG were tracking me.

    “And one of the journalists was a bit pro-Idrissa Gueye at that time. It was not nasty but anyway. It was a bit like: “Abdoulaye, you are a good player but you are not good enough to play for PSG or a big club.”

    “That hurt me a bit because I had been for three years performing in the Premier League. I had very good statistics, better ones than even certain French internationals.”

    “I still feel this thing: ‘He is a good player but not a top player or not for a top club’. In France, I am a bit underrated, yes, certainly. My fight will always be there, to prove people that I deserve to be in my place.

    “I can still do better, I can achieve my dreams, that will be my response to all the people who might have doubted me at one moment or another.”

  • Everton’s transfer ban lifted

    Everton’s transfer ban lifted

    Everton’s academy has seen their transfer ban lifted.

    The Liverpool Echo says the Blues were hit with two year recruitment sanctions in 2018 after being found guilty of making illegal approaches to young players.

    Everton were also fined £500,000.

    The ban said the club were unable to sign any player “who has been registered with another Premier League or EFL club in the preceding 18 months” for two years.

    But those sanctions have now elapsed and the Blues are able to begin recruiting players for their Academy sides in the usual way.

  • I’m not about to fall like a house of cards – Solskjaer

    I’m not about to fall like a house of cards – Solskjaer

    Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is adamant he’s the right man for the job.

    United go to Everton tomorrow on the back of consecutive defeats.

    But Solskjaer is adamant he still believes in himself.

    “If I don’t trust my beliefs and values, who else will?” he said. “I don’t look at one or two results and fall like a house of cards.”

    Solskjaer says he is confident his players will react at Goodison Park.

    “We have to be tough mentally,” he said. “We are the best and biggest club in the world. (After Wednesday) we didn’t expect anything but criticism. It is how you deal with it.”

    Solskjaer says he has had ‘open and honest dialogue’ with senior club officials throughout his time as manager.

    He continued: “I’ve always had a good, open, honest dialogue with the club. They have shown strong leadership and good dialogue since I’ve come in.

    “It’s sunny in Manchester today and I don’t expect the wind to turn. There is always pressure and expectation. I grew up here and became a man at Manchester United.

    “I learned how to deal with the good and the bad times. You’re a top coach or manager when you win and a bad one when you lose.

    “I don’t look at one or two results and fall like a house of cards. It’s a setback, definitely. There has been too much made of not scoring against Arsenal or Chelsea, there has been pretty much nothing in those two games.

    “It’s not too long ago we were the best thing since sliced bread when you beat Leipzig and PSG. So there’s ups and downs in football and that’s just the way it has to be.”

  • EPL: Southampton end Everton’s unbeaten record

    EPL: Southampton end Everton’s unbeaten record

    The last remaining unbeaten record of the Premier League season was ended as leaders Everton crashed to defeat against an impressive Southampton at St Mary’s.

    James Ward-Prowse beat Jordan Pickford with a ferocious finish before Che Adams doubled the lead with the help of a deflection, Danny Ings involved in both goals.

    Stand-in skipper Gylfi Sigurdsson struck the bar from 20 yards when the game was goalless, but the visitors struggled to seriously test keeper Alex McCarthy and finished the game with 10 men.

    Full-back Lucas Digne was shown a straight red card after a nasty challenge on Kyle Walker-Peters, the second successive game in which Everton have had a player sent off after Richarlison’s dismissal in last week’s Merseyside derby.

  • EPL: Ancelotti performs James Rodriguez injury u-turn

    EPL: Ancelotti performs James Rodriguez injury u-turn

    James Rodriguez is now in contention to make Everton’s trip to Southampton, claims Carlo Ancelotti, with fitness concerns easing around the Colombian playmaker.

    The Toffees boss revealed on Thursday that his South American star was nursing a knock picked up in an eventful Merseyside derby date with Liverpool.

    Ancelotti told evertontv: “Unfortunately, James had a problem during the game [against Liverpool].

    “He had a mistimed tackle with Virgil van Dijk at the beginning of the game and I think he will not be available for the game against Southampton.”

    That update was considered to represent quite a blow to Everton’s ambition.

    Being without him for a trip to St Mary’s Stadium would have forced Ancelotti into shuffling his pack.

    It may, however, be that James comes into contention after all after making a return to training on Friday.

    Ancelotti told reporters when asked for a fitness update: “He is not definitely out. Fortunately his recovery was really good and he trained today, just a partial training session.

    “I hope he is going to train tomorrow and we will see if he is condition to play on Sunday. He is really better now and we are confident that maybe he can play. He was not able to train until today. I hope tomorrow is going to be better.

    “Today’s was quite good, the training, but he had only partial training.”

    Goal

  • Everton hold Liverpool to maintain top lead in EPL

    Everton hold Liverpool to maintain top lead in EPL

    Everton held defending champions, Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at home on Saturday to hold on to the top position in English Premier league after five games.

    The derby game lived up to expectation.

    Sadio Mane who just returned from 14-day spell of treating Coronavirus, put the Reds in front in just three minutes.

    Andrew Robertson fed the ball through to Sadio Mane, who picked up the pass inside the box and quickly sent it into the top left corner.

    Everton fought back and got an equaliser on 19th minute through Michael Keane, who jumped highest inside the box to meet the resulting corner from James Rodriguez. His well-placed header ended up in the top of the net, leaving the goalkeeper flapping in the wind.

    Liverpool restore their lead in the 72nd minute of the match through Mohamed Salah. He showed good composure inside the box to fire a first-time shot inside the left post.

    The home side equalised again on 81st minute through Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

    Lucas Digne showcased his great technique and produced a beautiful lofted cross into the box. Calvert-Lewin got onto the scoresheet by heading inside the left post.

    On added time, Everton’s Richarlison was shown a red card by the referee for chasing his opponent and bringing him down with a very nasty tackle.

    Liverpool looked to have snatched victory on added time when Jordan Henderson buried the ball in the back of the net, but VAR said it was no goal.

  • EPL: Everton’s renaissance set for ultimate derby test

    EPL: Everton’s renaissance set for ultimate derby test

    Tough COVID-19 restrictions have cast a pre-winter gloom across Merseyside, but at least Everton supporters have something to lift their spirits after their side’s storming start to the Premier League season.

    On Saturday Carlo Ancelotti’s table-toppers host champions Liverpool at Goodison Park flushed with a rare sense of superiority over their Mersey rivals.

    Everton boast the only 100 per cent record in the Premier League from teams that have played four games, are averaging three goals per game and in Dominic Calvert-Lewin have the division’s joint-leading scorer.

    By contrast, Liverpool, who were in a league of their own last season, went into the international shutdown licking their wounds after a 7-2 defeat by Aston Villa and after four games have the joint second-worst defensive record in the top flight.

    Of course, it is far too early to be talking about a shift of power from the red to the blue half of Merseyside, but Everton’s invigorating football so far and Liverpool’s fragility have certainly heightened interest in Saturday’s clash outside of the city itself.

    Calvert-Lewin has been grabbing the headlines with his six league goals so far but it is Everton’s new signings who have transformed Ancelotti’s side from the sterile under-achievers they were last season into potential top-four candidates.

    Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez has been a revelation so far in an attacking trio alongside Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison while the industry of Brazilian Allan and the power of Abdoulaye Doucoure have turned Everton’s midfield into a formidable unit.

    With back-up options such as new central defensive signing Ben Godfrey, Alex Iwobi, Bernard and Tom Davies, Everton’s form does not look like being a flash in the pan.

    They have won seven-out-of seven in all competitions so far, but Saturday’s derby will be the ultimate litmus test as they seek a first league win over Liverpool for 10 years.

    Ex Everton defender Sylvain Distin said former Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid manager Ancelotti’s impact has been a key factor in Everton’s revival.

    “He is in the same circle as Klopp, Guardiola, Mourinho. You can sense that he is committed to the long term,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “Let’s not get carried away!

    “Saturday’s derby against the Reds comes at the best moment. Liverpool are an injured beast after their defeat at Villa.”

    While Liverpool will be looking to rebound, so will Manchester City and Manchester United who have both started the season in worrying fashion.

    Guardiola’s City followed up a 5-2 home defeat by Leicester City with a 1-1 draw against newly-promoted Leeds United, while United have lost two of their opening three games, including a 6-1 thrashing at home to Tottenham Hotspur last time out.

    City host Arsenal on Saturday while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United side travel to Newcastle United.

    United will be without new signing Edinson Cavani who is isolating and striker Anthony Martial after his red card in the defeat by Spurs.

    Sunday’s big clash will see Tottenham host West Ham United in what is expected to be Gareth Bale’s return game for the north Londoners after arriving on loan from Real Madrid.