Gray day for Seagulls as Everton secure 2-0 away win

That’s three Premier League matches unbeaten and seven points collected, it’s gone very well for Everton so far this season.

Yesterday’s two nil win at Brighton was perhaps the most satisfying performance yet as Everton blunted a Seagulls side that was confident and had begun with two wins out of two themselves.

Going into the game Rafa Benitez had one big selection decision to make and that was whether to stick with under pressure defender Michael Keane who has made three mistakes that led to goals, or drop him assuming he had other options.

Benitez decided to show faith in the player as Yerry Mina was unavailable and was rewarded with a solid and error-free performance from Keane alongside Mason Holgate.

And defensively the Blues were strong throughout and bar a few second half chances, kept the home team quiet for the majority of the match.

I’ve always thought Keane needs a player with real pace alongisde him if you are going to get the best out of him and while Holgate isn’t the quickest around he has enough pace to recover and he was strong too alongside Keane.

And one key to helping Everton keep that clean sheet was the excellent work again in front of the defence by Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Yesterday, the Brazilian perhaps just shaded his French midfield colleague and provided jeweled passes that led to the goals, but both were outstanding. Let’s hope they can stay fit for the rest of the season, especially as Jean-Philippe Gbamin was again absent.

After a slow start, the Toffees scored twice and the first goal showcased everything in attack that Everton have been doing well so far in this campaign.

The Blues have shown a refreshing willingness to attack at every opportunity with pace and directness, particularly on the counter-attack and this has paid dividends and did again yesterday.

Demarai Gray had already offered glimpses of his speed and attacking menace and after a fine pass from Allan he collected the ball and ran purposefully at the Brighton defence who backed off him and gave him the time and space to fire a fine left-foot shot across keeper Sanchez.

Then again in the second half Allan was involved and threaded a great ball through to Seamus Coleman who was brought down to give Everton a second penalty in three Premier League games.

After an unseemly squabble with Richarlison who was determined to take the kick, Dominic Calvert-Lewin eventually stepped up and slotted the ball home to give the away side a commanding two goal lead.

Along with Calvert-Lewin not quite looking as sharp as he can and picking up another knock and having to go off (let’s hope that’s not too serious) Richarlison’s petulant behaviour was the only real blot on a fine afternoon and a strongly professional away-day performance.

And when the England centre-forward had to depart, Alex Iwobi came on to produce another good display of attacking skill and running.

Is the player we’re seeing actually the same one who has been such a desperate disappointment since his expensive move from Arsenal two years ago?

I wrote a while back that when Benitez was first appointed that one of the things he would have to do was get more out of some of the fringe squad players in his squad.

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This was because it always looked unlikely that the club would be able to get all of them off the books or that the new manager would have the money to go and spend big in the transfer window. Well so far anyway he’s doing just that.

In the second half Brighton had begun well and threated sporadically. They had a few chances to maybe get back into the match, particularly a Pascal Gross free-kick, but Jordan Pickford was in solid form whenever called upon and the Toffees held firm for a very good and well-deserved three points.

So, Everton and Benitez have got off to that good start to this campaign that was so important to the team and manager and sit comfortably in fourth place.

But remember this happened at the start of last season with Everton top of the table at one stage and playing some superb football. Then came the first international break and after it the wheels came off with the Blues struggling in vain to recapture that form for the rest of the season.

There are still a few days left until the transfer window closes and the Toffees certainly need to get a few more players in before then. Another right-back (still!) a wide attacker and a back-up for Calvert-Lewin would seem to be the main priorities.