Match Report

Everton collected their first away win of the season as Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil scored their first goals for the club and the Blues held on to a slender 2-1 lead at Southampton.

Frank Lampard’s men looked as though they had undone all the good work from the first half in establishing control of the match when they allowed Joe Aribo to fire home four minutes after the restart.

But the Southampton forward’s goal had merely provided the spark for the contest to explode into life and the visitors scored twice in the space of two minutes to turn the game on its head – first when Coady turned the ball home following a corner and then when McNeil rapped home Alex Iwobi’s cross from the angle.

The returning Jordan Pickford had to be at his best to den Stuart Armstrong and Saints debutant Duje Ćaleta-Car volleyed a gilt-edged chance over the bar in stoppage time but the Blues’ defence held out to claim three precious points on a ground where they had performed particularly badly on their previous two visits.

With Nathan Patterson ruled out through injury, Dominic Calvert-Lewin again not risked and Anthony Gordon feeling “under the weather” in the manager’s words, Lampard made two changes to the starting XI beyond restoring Pickford between the posts in place of his deputy Asmir Begovic.

As expected, Seamus Coleman came in at right-back and McNeil replaced Gordon on the right flank and though both players exhibited a bit of rust, Everton began to find some rhythm after Iwobi had almost picked Amadou Onana out in the middle with a cross from the left but the Belgian was just beaten to it by a defender.

At the other end, Che Adams clipped a shot into the side-netting after five minutes but it was the Toffees who carried the greater attacking threat, even if their attacks often foundered when they reached the final third.

Demarai Gray narrowly missed with a direct free-kick, Coady almost got his toe to a ball in following a set-piece and Neal Maupay had a couple of opportunities when his shot from close range was blocked and later when he popped up at the back post at a corner but his header was caught by Gavin Bazunu.

The best chance of the first period had fallen to Gray, though, when, having done the hard part by gliding past his man with impressive footwork, he could only serve up a tame finish that the keeper comfortably saved.

Ralph Hassenhüttl’s men finished the first half with a brief flurry that saw Stuart Armstrong’s low cross deflect into Pickford’s arms and the same player then test the Everton keeper for the first time with a deflected shot that was also safely gathered.

The Blues and Gueye, in particular, had looked increasingly composed as the first half had gone on but a dreadful pass by the Senegal international across midfield went straight to an opposition player and the ball was quickly worked to Adams who found Aribo and he drilled through a crowd of blue shirts to give the hosts the lead.

Everton won a free-kick by the touchline halfway inside Southampton’s half almost immediately by way of reply and when Gray’s delivery found Onana at the back post, the lanky Belgian headed back across goal where Coady was lurking to bang it home.

Another horrendous pass out from the back, this time by James Tarkowski, allowed Southampton in for a chance to restore their lead but the former Burnley defender made amends with a terrific block that was emulated by Vitalii Mykolenko and then Coleman as the Blues staved off the attack and began one of their own.

Iwobi collected a pass on the Toffees’ right and floated a ball in towards the penalty spot where Onana appeared to be pushed over by Kyle Walker-Peters but it continued on to McNeil who took one touch and then slammed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give Everton the lead.

Onana could have killed the game just three minutes later when he stooped to meet Coleman’s cross but put his header horribly wide and then, after Adams had chested the ball down and volleyed just wide, Gray was clean through but could only shoot at Bazunu, with Video Assistant Referee, Lee Mason, no doubt poised to rule it out for offside in any case.

The final 20 minutes were dominated by the Saints as they tried to find a way back to parity but Adam Armstrong’s effort from 12 yards bounced over the bar in the 71st minute and Stuart Armstrong arrived to meet a similar cut-back from the by-line but Pickford flew to his left to push it around the post a minute later.

The England international then beat away a strong shot from Walker-Peters and Coleman did well to head away a James Ward-Prowse free-kick but it wasn’t until the match moved into six minutes of added time that Hasenhüttl’s side threatened again to grab a point.

Everton’s markers failed to pick Caleta-Car up from a free-kick but, thankfully, the Croatian could only side-foot his volley over when he had the whole goal to aim at while Adam Armstrong had one last chance off Adams’s knock-down but shot straight at Pickford.

So, Lampard saw his team score more than once for the first time this season and earn what was only their second win away from home under his stewardship and it moves Everton into a pleasingly comfortable mid-table position with 10 points from eight games.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Updates

Premier League action returns this weekend with Everton travelling to the South coast to take on Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium.

Nathan Patterson joins the long-term injured (Godfrey, Mina, Holgate, Townsend) on the sidelines but Jordan Pickford returns after his thigh problem cleared up. Still no sign of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose season has yet to get started as his return to match action continues to be managed very conservatively. Seamus Coleman steps back in to replace Patterson and reclaim the captain's armband. 

Anthony Gordon is only on the bench after missing training yesterday, with Dwight McNeil starting in his place. 

Southampton kicked off in the balmy sunshine, but it was Iwobi who made the first real move, cutting down the left and swinging in a decent cross to the far post that was not converted by Onana or Gray. 

Gueye tried to build down the left as well but Gray was tuned to a different channel. Mykolenko was beaten by Armstrong who set up a threatening moment. 

Gueye was cut down by Maitland-Niles who got an early yellow for his poor tackle. Gray's effort just clipped the top of a Southampton head in the wall but no VAR intervention for the clear and obvious error of awarding a goal-kick. 

Some nice play by Maupay, Mykolenko and Iwobi ended with the Nigerian overhitting his ballooned cross. But Everton's build-up play got better, Gray's cross winning a corner that he put in far too low.

Gray did well to switch over and disrupt The Saints game but Coleman could not keep possession allowing Saints to come forward and Walker-Peters to swing his shot wide of Pickford's goal.  

Gueye got himself dispossessed but then made amends by winning it back but things had gone all scrappy again. McNeil was too slow to reach a long diagonal from Trakowski and again the home side could build until a brilliant intervention from Gueye, the subsequent move leading to another Everton corner. This delivery was higher but still cleared.  but 

Larios cynically took out Gray from behind but no yellow card given. 

Coleman picked out Maupay who was being grappled by the defender. NcNeil then fouled Ward-Peters but that wasn't given either. 

Demarai Gray went on a nice run only to drive it straight at Bazunu, allowing Sants to counter and shoot wide.  

Gueye and Onana got the ball forward really well and Gray looked like he could do something with it but again nothing from it. Gray was well involved but again he just launched a ball wide to no one. 

Everton were getting an awful lot of the ball and moving it really well at some points... until they got to the Saints penalty box. Another example, McNeil picking up a great ball in acres of space on the right and then what? Nothing. Just nothing. 

McNeil did slightly better to dribble on and get a corner that he delivered a lot better than Gray. But Onana was so surprised,  it just hit him on the head. Another great cross to the far post and Gry just with a lazy header to nobody. 

Southampton got past Onana, who went to ground, and it needed defending but Everton then went upfield reasonably fast again only for it to fall apart, again!

Everton put together another sweeping attack down the right and crossed to the far post but Maupay, falling backwards, could only head it straight to Bazunu. Southampton then tried their had but could not get past Pickford. 

McNeil won another corner with a poor cross that was deflected behind. Gray delivered it better but Tarkowski could not direct it on goal. Coleman forced the next corner, on the right, where McNeil had taken over from Gray. The keeper dropped the ball but no Blue shirt could poke it home. 

If the Everton players had any idea how to score a goal, they would have been streets ahead at the break. But they clearly don't and a frustrating half finished predictably goalless.

Everton kicked off the second half but it was scrappy again as Iwobi gave the ball away. Coleman had to stop Adams from heading in at the expense of a Southampton corner that was defended clear.

But in another Saints attack, Aribo was given too much space to drive his shot under Pickford for a somewhat undeserved lead. Time surely to get Gordon on the pitch. 

 But from a free-kick wide left, Onana headed the ball back for an instinctive finish from close range by Conor Coady. 

At the other end, Tarkowski with a horrendous giveaway saw bodies flying to stop Southanpton going ahead again 

But Everton then went forward and McNeil suddenly looked like Christiano Ronaldo as he brought down Iwobi's cross and hammered into the net from a narrow angle. Finally, Everton ahead!

Everton surged forward again and Coleman laid one on a plate for Onana, who looked completely out of place at centre-forward and fell over trying to head it wide. 

Southampton made changes and came forward in waves, Everton's defence repelling most of it, Pickford saving a direct header. But they kept pressing forward, and when Everton did break, they completely messes it up. 

Another Saints attack saw a great Perraud chest-down and volley whistle wide. More Saints attacks pinned Everton back until Iwobi was fouled.  

Everton tried to keep control of the game but found it difficult as Saints subs had increased the temp significantly.  Bit Gray did get through yet was unable to lift his shot over Bazunu and was probably offside auyway. 

Everton were getting pushed back again and again but Adam Armstrong could not get his foot over the ball. Then Pickford pulled off a tremendous save from Armstrong as Lampard reacted late with his subs, as ever. 

Another Saints corner and Walker-Peters was given time to tee up a feirce shot that Pickford saved. 

Gueye had to commit a foul and it was given as another corner, but Everton are now much improved in the defence thereof. Yet another corner, Pickford had to pat behind. The next one defended in the messiest of ways, Gordon a little sleepy, letting Saints get the ball back again. 

Maupay had been doing his best all game to rile up Kotchap. But it meant being called for fouls.  But it was Guueye who saw yellow, he had had a difficult game, and committed for him quite a few fouls. 

Coleman did well to get right behind Ward-Prowse's attempt from the resulting free-kick. Steven Armstrong went in on Iwob with his studs showing. No punishment. 

Everton were forced back, Lampard breaking things up with another round of changes, Rondon on for Maupay;  Doucouré for Gray.

Everton kept falling back, living very dangerously, the game getting disrupted with stoppages as it entered 6 minutes of added time. 

A Saints free-kick was delivered well to the far post where Caleta-Car thankfully could not keep his shot down. Rondon at the other end tried a speculative shot to burn up some more time, then Adams got past Tarkowski only for Pickford to collect his shot.

Into the 97th minute and Gordon won an important free-kick that was the final kick of the game, an excellent win on the road for the increasingly confident Blues. 

Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Kotchap, Caleta-Car, Larios  (60' Perraud), Ward-Prowse, Maitland-Niles [Y:7'], (67' Edozie), Mara (60' A Armstrong), Aribo, S Armstrong (89' Elyounoussi), Adams.

Subs not Used: McCarthy, Djenepo, Salisu, Diallo, Walcott.

Everton:  Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Coady, Mykolenko, Onana (74' Davies), Gana, Iwobi, McNeil (74' Gordon), Maupay (89' Rondon), Gray (90+1' Doucoure).

Subs not Used: Begovic, Keane, Vinagre, Garner, John.

Michael Kenrick

Match Preview

The trip to St Mary’s, like the one the Blues used to make to the tight confines of The Dell, is almost always a tricky one for Everton. Five of their last six visits to Southampton had ended in defeat, none more convincing than their last two when they were passed off the park by Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side.

The Saints might have made an erratic start to the season but they beat Chelsea at home at the end of August and, on their day in front of their home fans, they can be a very difficult proposition. Today wasn’t one of those days, although had Jordan Pickford not been alert 20 minutes from the end and had Duje Ćaleta-Carn not volleyed a gilt-edged chance over the bar in stoppage time, they could have ruined Everton’s day.

Frank Lampard’s Toffees earned this victory, though — only their second under his stewardship so far and only Everton’s second since their 2-0 win down the road at Brighton more than a year ago. It wasn’t always pretty, by the end it was a little ragged, but this was a markedly better display than the one they put on in this fixture back in February and it helped extend the team’s unbeaten run to seven matches in all competitions.

Indeed, it’s fair to say that Everton dominated the first half and could have been a couple of goals to the good by the halfway stage if they hadn’t exhibited so little nous in the final third. Lampard admitted afterwards that, “[t]here are glimpses … but we can get a lot better and we've got hard games coming up so we need to stay on it,” a nod, no doubt, to the fact that his team were resolute at the back and tidy in midfield but found that promising attacks routinely fell apart in and around the opposition penalty area.

Whether it’s through more work on the training pitch with the current personnel or via the transfer market over the next couple of windows, it’s a lack of cutting edge that the manager will be desperate to resolve but today, the determination, spirit and togetherness of the players he already has saw them find their feet after conceding the first goal to turn the contest on its head with two quick-fire goals early in the second half.

The concession of the opener to Joe Aribo could have been devastating and would, you feel, have proved decisive to the Everton of last season. It was made worse by the fact that the goal had come directly from an uncharacteristically lazy and wayward pass by Idrissa Gueye who had been almost exemplary up to that point. (The Senegal international had atoned for a similarly sloppy piece of play in the first half by quickly winning the ball back.)

And were it not for James Tarkowski’s own powers of recovery, Southampton might have retaken the lead straight after Conor Coady’s richly-deserved equaliser after the centre-half had passed straight to a white and red shirt in his own half. He got back, however, to block Che Adams’s shot superbly and was then helped out by Vitalii Mykolenko and Seamus Coleman who also put their bodies on the line to retain parity. Less than 60 seconds later, it was 2-1 as Dwight McNeil hammered home brilliantly for what would prove to be the winner.

Such are the building blocks of momentum and a habit of, firstly, not losing and then winning, something Everton have now done in consecutive games for only the second time since beating Burnley at Goodison Park in September 2021.

With Nathan Patterson ruled out through injury and Anthony Gordon feeling “under the weather” in the manager’s words, Lampard made two changes to the starting XI beyond restoring Pickford between the posts in place of his deputy Asmir Begovic.

As expected, Coleman came in at right-back and McNeil replaced Gordon on the right flank and though both players exhibited a bit of rust, Everton began to find some rhythm after Iwobi had almost picked Amadou Onana out in the middle with a cross from the left but the Belgian was just beaten to it by a defender.

At the other end, Che Adams clipped a shot into the side-netting after five minutes but it was the Toffees who carried the greater attacking threat, even if their attacks often foundered when they reached the final third.

Demarai Gray narrowly missed with a direct free-kick, Coady almost got his toe to a ball in following a set-piece and Neal Maupay had a couple of opportunities when his shot from close range was blocked and later when he popped up at the back post at a corner but his header was caught by Gavin Bazunu.

The best chance of the first period had fallen to Gray, though, when, having done the hard part by gliding past his man with impressive footwork, he could only serve up a tame finish that the keeper comfortably saved.

Ralph Hassenhüttl’s men finished the first half with a brief flurry that saw Stuart Armstrong’s low cross deflect into Pickford’s arms and the same player then test the Everton keeper for the first time with a deflected shot that was also safely gathered.

The Blues and Gueye, in particular, had looked increasingly composed as the first half had gone on but a dreadful pass by the Senegal international across midfield went straight to an opposition player and the ball was quickly worked to Adams who found Aribo and he drilled through a crowd of blue shirts to give the hosts the lead.

Everton won a free-kick by the touchline halfway inside Southampton’s half almost immediately by way of reply and when Gray’s delivery found Onana at the back post, the lanky Belgian headed back across goal where Coady, the Blues’ best outfield player on the day, was lurking to bang it home.

Another horrendous pass out from the back, this time by Tarkowski, allowed Southampton in for a chance to restore their lead but the former Burnley defender made amends with a terrific block that was emulated by Vitalii Mykolenko and then Coleman as the Blues staved off the attack and began one of their own.

Iwobi collected a pass on the Toffees’ right and floated a ball in towards the penalty spot where Onana appeared to be pushed over by Kyle Walker-Peters but it continued on to McNeil who took one touch and then slammed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give Everton the lead.

Onana could have killed the game just three minutes later when he stooped to meet Coleman’s cross but put his header horribly wide and then, after Adams had chested the ball down and volleyed just wide, Gray was clean through but could only shoot at Bazunu, with Video Assistant Referee, Lee Mason, no doubt poised to rule it out for offside in any case.

The final 20 minutes were dominated by the Saints as they tried to find a way back to parity but Adam Armstrong’s effort from 12 yards bounced over the bar in the 71st minute and Stuart Armstrong arrived to meet a similar cut-back from the by-line but Pickford flew to his left to push it around the post a minute later.

The England international then beat away a strong shot from Walker-Peters and Coleman did well to head away a James Ward-Prowse free-kick but it wasn’t until the match moved into six minutes of added time that Hasenhüttl’s side threatened again to grab a point.

Everton’s markers failed to pick Caleta-Car up from a free-kick but, thankfully, the Croatian could only side-foot his volley over when he had the whole goal to aim at while Adam Armstrong had one last chance off Adams’s knock-down but shot straight at Pickford.

Again, this was the kind of fixture that the Blues would have lost this season, particularly after falling behind, so its testament to the job that Lampard is doing, the positivity he has injected into the camp, and the character of the players he has helped bring into the club that this time, they not only got something from the match but went on to win it.

Teams that can put a run of results together can see their League position improve rapidly and Everton have hauled themselves out of the bottom three to a position just outside the top 10 having avoided defeat in six Premier League games now with the second-best defence in the division.

Tough tests await in the form of Manchester United next weekend and daunting trips to Tottenham and Newcastle after that but there is a solidity and mental fortitude now that will give the team every confidence they can grind out results against the odds where before they would have folded. Onward and upwards, as they say…

Lyndon Lloyd

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