Everton jumped to second spot after a 1-0 away win at Bramall Lane.
Everton were able to secure a tough 1-0 victory against Sheffield United as an 80th-minute goal from Gylfi Sigurdsson was able to secure the three points for Carlo Ancelotti’s men. It was a hard-fought game for the Toffees which put them second for the first time in the Christmas period for over a decade.
Ancelotti’s side were able to control possession, with Chris Wilder’s side having small spells throughout the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Blades weren’t able to create chances good enough to trouble Jordan Pickford. It was the same on Everton’s front, they weren’t able to trouble Aaron Ramsdale much, with the United players throwing their bodies on the line for every challenge and the Blades’ passion made the game much more difficult for the Everton players.
Everton’s next game is against Manchester City who also picked up a victory today against Newcastle, it will be a difficult test with the game coming on Monday, which gives the Toffees no rest going into the game. It’s already been confirmed that James Rodriguez will also miss that game but all fans can do is rally around the team and hope this great league form continues.
Here are my player ratings for the game:
Jordan Pickford – 7
Pickford wasn’t really challenged throughout the game so it was quite hard to give him a rating, but taking everything into account Pickford did a good job for the Toffees today. He only had to make one save in the game, but the main reason for his rating is his distribution throughout the game.
The Englishman completed 61% of his passes which may not seem to impress, but it’s his 13 accurate long balls which helped Everton get out of some tight situations throughout the 95-minute affair. It wasn’t the most spectacular performance, but Pickford did enough to help the Toffees take home the three points against Sheffield United.