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Can Everton match Chelsea effort at Leicester?

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Jonny Evans of Leicester City and Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton battle for the ball during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Leicester City at Goodison Park on July 01, 2020 in Liverpool, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JULY 01: Jonny Evans of Leicester City and Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton battle for the ball during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Leicester City at Goodison Park on July 01, 2020 in Liverpool, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /
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Everton travel to Leicester City tomorrow night for their latest Premier League match so will the Toffees be able to sustain the excellence of last Saturday’s win against Chelsea?

That 1-0 win at Goodison Park was an unexpected result, as Everton produced arguably their finest performance of the season to secure three much-needed points and a first clean sheet since the opening day at Tottenham.

The Blues were excellent defensively and showed a level of grit, determination and collective effort that Toffees supporters haven’t seen much of recently.

There wasn’t any player in royal blue that evening who didn’t put in a shift for the team and perform well. Of particular note were the two emergency full-backs and central defender Micheal Keane while midfielders Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure were also excellent. Even Gylfi Sigurdsson found new levels of energy and produced some fine balls too.

If there was one minor issue it was that Everton didn’t really create much after taking that lead through a Sigurdsson penalty. And that penalty had come from a long ball out of defence that Dominic Calvert-Lewin controlled before he was brought down.

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A key reason for that lack of open-field creativity was of course the absence of James Rodriguez. In the end the Blues didn’t ultimately need him to win the game and it was a superb effort all-round.

But nevertheless it’s obvious that the team are going to miss a player of such class, flair and inventiveness.

Everton will have to do without him again tomorrow as not unexpectedly he hasn’t recovered from the injury that kept him out of the game on Saturday.

I hope that Carlo Ancelotti just goes with the same side as started against Chelsea for some consistency of selection and to stick with a winning team.

In truth other than bringing back Andre Gomes in midfield, he doesn’t have a lot of other choices, especially as he seems unwilling to give young players a chance at the moment.

That even means continuing with Sigurdsson, a player that I along with many Evertonians have criticised heavily in the past. I hope I don’t come to regret showing this faith in him!

I also think we need to see more from Richarlison. He was in and out of the game against Chelsea and had another frustrating time in front of goal. Let’s hope he can out that right tomorrow.

The Toffees opponents have had another strong campaign so far and other than an unexpected home defeat by Fulham, have been in fine form recently.

The ageless Jamie Vardy continues to be their chief source of goals but the Foxes have a host of other talented and dangerous younger players like James Maddison, Youri Tielemens and Timothy Castagne. They will be a real threat to the Blues defence.

Can Everton make it six points from these two games against in-form Premier League high-flyers and maintain the unexpected momentum from last weekend? To do so they’ll surely have to produce another performance of similar grit and hard work against a confident, pacey and good quality opponent.

I’m not sure they can and I’m going to say this match will be a draw. But four points from two games that looked a tough ask for the Toffees, wouldn’t be too bad a return before Everton welcome Arsenal this weekend.