Kevin Campbell praises Pickford following Arsenal performance
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Kevin Campbell has praised Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford following his impressive performance against Arsenal last week.
The England international goalkeeper pulled off a number of impressive stops as the Toffees claimed their first away win over Arsenal since 1996.
Pickford prevented the Gunners from scoring in the 1-0 win for Everton, with a late strike from Gabriel Martinelli requiring a particularly impressive stop to shut Arsenal out.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News, Campbell praised Pickford’s recent run in form, drawing particular attention to the save he made against Martinelli.
Campbell said: “That was a really good save. He had concentration right until the end, and maybe he’s finally improving now.
“He saw them over the line, and it’s been a long time since Everton have won against Arsenal away, so thats another duck that they’ve broken.
“So fair play to Pickford, it was a fantastic save.”
Deserves credit
Pickford certainly seems to have improved over the course of the season, and perhaps that could be in some small part down to the fact that he has genuine goalkeeping competition for the first time since moving to Merseyside.
Before Robin Olsen came to the club every other goalkeeper at Everton was exclusively considered to be Pickford’s back-up, with the shot-stopper never really ever facing the threat of being dropped for the club’s second choice.
With Olsen now though Pickford has been forced to perform on a regular basis, with the Sweden international proving on multiple occasions that he more than capable of picking up the slack if Pickford isn’t able to consistently perform.
Pickford has also seen his England position came under threat due to his previous dip in performance levels, so perhaps he just needed motivation through the threat of losing game time to pick up his performances.
Either way he has definitely improved, and long may it continue.
In other Everton news, the Blues are in the hunt to sign ‘exceptional’ goal machine with 39 goals and assists.
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