Alex Iwobi received a lot of stink from Everton supporters during his five seasons on Merseyside, with a certain portion of the fanbase thinking he wasn't good enough because he didn't score very often.
To be fair, Iwobi scored just nine goals in those five seasons, wherein he totaled 140 appearances (110 starts) and just over 9700 minutes. Furthermore, his 15 assists in that same span is an awfully low number for a creative midfielder.
It should be said, however, that a statistic like assists is very dependent on the finishing of other players, and poor finishing is something that has plagued Everton for years now. During those five seasons, Iwobi underperformed against his xGA according to FBRef in all years except 2020/21 (2 on 1.9) and 2022/23 (7 on 6.1).
That he's turned into a bit of a goal scoring machine since joining Fulham in the summer of 2023 will not awry those calls of his lack of quality by Everton fans, as in just two seasons he already has as many goals (15) as he did during five years at Arsenal and more than his Everton tenure.
It should be more of an indictment on the Everton sides he played on, but that's the way football fandom goes sometimes.
But the goals are not the only reason that David Moyes' squad will need to focus extra attention on Iwobi on Saturday, it's that he remains a creative force for the Cottagers' attack, even if he isn't the one scoring the goals.
Sure, his career-high nine goals on the season are impressive, but it's the team-leading 199 progressive passes and 1218 progressive carries in 35 Premier League appearances that really stand out. So even if you stop him from scoring (he's also second on Fulham's squad in progressive passes received), he's likely to impact the match in other ways.
The Nigerian was nothing but a consummate professional during his time on Merseyside, even as is impact was often misunderstood by supporters.
His move to Fulham has proven him to be the excellent player many knew him to be and he'll need to be the focus of Everton's gameplan on Saturday.