Birthday boy Niels Nkounkou was handed his first PL start in Digne’s absence.
Defence:
Niels Nkounkou – 6
His Premier League debut wouldn’t be as memorable as his Everton debut in the EFL Cup. Nkounkou already had a tough grind filling in the mammoth space left due to Lucas Digne’s suspension. The birthday boy tried to get forward as much as possible but his exploits forward didn’t have optimistic results. He was substituted in the 69th minute for Cenk Tosun.
Michael Keane – 6
Tasked with taming Callum Wilson, Keane was successful in doing his job for most parts of the game. His positional awareness was good and recovered well after the early nerves. His display against Newcastle was better than what we saw last week against Saints.
Yerry Mina – 5
In a lacklustre game overall, Mina was not up to the mark. He did well in circulating the ball around but lacked solidity at the back which was evident when the Colombian was beaten by Ryan Fraser pass in the build up to the second goal.
Jonjoe Kenny – 5
Jonjoe Kenny’s defensive game was largely faultless but today he didn’t do enough to fit in the tag of a modern day full back. He went forward but returned often empty handed, losing the ball or simply not being able to link up with anyone. Had there been James on the right flank, the story would’ve been different for Kenny.