Sean Dyche managed to end a torrid record for himself as Everton got what can be described as a hard-fought three points at Goodison Park against Leeds United.
Leeds United were the only opponent that Dyche had never beaten in his Premier League career with three losses and a draw whilst at Burnley but he will be glad that streak is over as a win for Everton took them out of the bottom three.
A Seamus Coleman strike in the second half secured the victory against a manager less Leeds United in a game which was lacking severe quality.
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) February 18, 2023
Everton's @premierleague season
Sean Dyche – 2 wins from 3 games
Frank Lampard – 3 wins from 20 games pic.twitter.com/RPsEbmu6Fz
In the first half there was very few chances for either side with Everton’s best opportunities coming from set-pieces, Dyche’s speciality.
Connor Coady had a header cleared off the line and straight after that Dwight McNeil found Neal Maupay whose header had more pace on it but that also cleared off the line.
A few minutes later James Tarkowski had a header saved well by Illan Meslier as Everton were looking the more likely of the sides to take the lead.
In the second half even chances from corners were a rarity as both sides were lacking any sort of creativity from open play.
The away side, who were under caretaker manager Michael Skubala, seemed like they comfortable with a point but Everton desperately needed a win after a lacklustre performance in the Merseyside derby.
So up popped their loyal hero, Seamus Coleman.
With 25 minutes to go Coleman had the ball in the corner with what looked like nowhere to go but all of a sudden he fired the ball into the back of the net.
From an impossible angle the ball found its way past Meslier who looked a fool as he had completely abandoned his near post.
After that Leeds tried to throw all they could at Dyche’s men but Jordan Pickford was not troubled at all as they did not manage a shot on target so The Toffees held on.
It was a must-win given the other results at the bottom of the table as well due to Bournemouth and Southampton winning whilst Nottingham Forest got an unexpected point at home to Manchester City.
Everton sit in 16th place on 21 points with another big home game up next against Aston Villa.
At the start of the game both sets of players came together for a minutes applause in honour of Christian Atsu, a former Everton player, who passed away due to the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria.
May he rest in peace.
Our thoughts are with his family, friends and everyone at Hatayspor as well as everyone who has been affected by the disaster.
