Everton have clinched their second win of the Sean Dyche era as Seamus Coleman’s strike gave them a 1-0 win over managerless Leeds United. The Toffees have now picked up six points in their last three games and are out of the relegation zone for the time being.
The dreadful 4-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion on January 3rd had pushed the Merseysiders into the drop zone and the win against Leeds has finally enabled Everton to come out of the bottom three for the first time in over 45 days.
The Toffees were defensively solid as they won this relegation six pointer fair and square. It was a must win game for Everton as a loss would create distance between them and direct relegation rivals Leeds. A win has now put Everton 16th in the table with 21 points on the board.
Sean Dyche reveals what Everton did right to win against Leeds United
While speaking to the media after the game, Dyche iterated the importance of finding the right balance and what the team did right as EFC managed their fifth win of the season at a very crucial juncture of the campaign.
"Today it was finding that balance between defending very, very solidly which we did – I don’t think they had a shot on target – and then finally on the transitions how many times we can play ourselves and I thought there was some good quality football today so we want that balance to be right. You tie all that together with the work ethic and the demands on the group physically and I thought that was very good today. (via Liverpool ECHO)"
Everton have another home game next weekend as they take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa who are 11th in the table and have lost their last three games in the Premier League, although two of those losses were against the top two sides of league – Manchester City and Arsenal. Dyche is already thinking about the next game as the Toffees try to maintain their convincing form and make use of the massive home atmosphere advantage at Goodison Park.
"What’s going through my head is just a week of training: recovery on Tuesday, then a couple of days training and the way the players put that into practice, sticking in some of the principles we think are important going forwards and delivering a performance in order to win.I thought that mentality was clear today and I think that is important going forward. It is another step in the right direction. There are lots of steps to still be taken."
Will Sean Dyche’s Everton carry on this momentum against Aston Villa?