This is going better so far than I think almost any Everton supporter dared hope as the Blues showed resolve to recover from one goal down to beat Burnley 3-1 under the lights at Goodison Park and remain undefeated this season.
It didn’t look as though that great start Everton had made to the campaign would continue after Ben Mee’s header gave a brusing Burnley side a one nil lead ten minutes into the second half.
But the Toffees recovered superbly producing a scorching last half hour display to claim another three points and keep pace with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table.
Before the game Benitez had revealed that Dominic Calvert-Lewin wouldn’t play as he hasn’t overcome his toe injury and it looks like he will be out for a few weeks.
That was a real blow of course and it meant Richarlison would start as the centre-forward flanked in a three-man attack by Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray.
But it was the other end of the pitch and a three-man defence that would be the key area of the Everton team in the first half.
Benitez decided to go with a 3-4-3 formation and had Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey and Micheal Keane at centre-back.
While this sometimes looks a good system on paper, it never really seems to work and again it left the Blues looking disjointed with Burnley marginally on top in the first forty-five minutes.
Right from the start the Clarets had set their stall out to play with aggression and targetted the volatile Richarlison especially with several reckless challenges in the hope of provoking him.
He did react and the match threated to become a dirty slugfest with the situation not helped by another typically erractic performance from referee Martin Atkinson as he let some truly agricultural tackles go while punishing other less serious offences.
Apart from the tough tackling and bad blood, the first hour or so of the game was largely uneventful and there had been few clear cut chances for either side. Dwight McNeil though was bright and creative for Burnley and seemed intent on reminding Blues fans what they might have had if he’d joined this summer.
Then just under ten minutes into the second period and after a spell of pressure on the Everton penalty area Mee dived to head home and put the away team one up.
To be honest at that point it didn’t look as though the Toffees had what was needed to come back from this goal and it seemed like we might be in for a repeat of last season’s defeat to the Clarets at the Grand Old Lady.
However, Keane grabbed a quick equaliser assisted by Townsend that was still against the grain and then immediately Benitez made what proved an excellent substitution.
He took off the rusty Godfrey and brought on Andre Gomes. Like another player whose future looked uncertain a few weeks ago, Alex Iwobi, Gomes has been revitalised under Benitez and is becoming a really effective option off the bench.
His arrival in midfield provided more attacking support in particular for the outstanding Abdoulaye Doucoure who was now really getting forward and the home side looked much more threatening.
After these changes Everton turned the match on it’s head with Townsend then producing a simply stunning strike from more than twenty-five yards out to make it 2-1. He almost did it again later on but Nick Pope saved it.
A minute after Townsend’s goal Gray also slotted home superbly after a peach of a pass from Doucoure and the home side were cruising and in the box seat.
Benitez then took off Richarlison who’d had a really frustrating evening to give Salomon Rondon his debut and the Blues new boy almost scored minutes later. Meanwhile his fellow South American wasn’t happy at being hauled off.
Richarlison is certainly a talented player and has a great future in the game, but I feel he really must cut out this sort of petulant behaviour.
Anyway, leaving that negative aside, the Toffees held firm and had secured another superb win to maintain their terrific start to the season.