Alan Shearer loved to watch Everton ace Ben Godfrey battle Erling Haaland in Manchester City draw
Erling Haaland may have scored but Everton were one of the few teams who managed to keep him relatively quiet in their 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
That was largely thanks to the returning Ben Godfrey who made his first appearance in the Premier League since the opening day of the season against Chelsea when he was stretchered off the field of play.
He lined up in a back five and his personal battle with the Norwegian goal machine was a particular highlight from the match for BBC Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer.
“Both players, Ben Godfrey and Haaland, really enjoyed it, you can tell,” Shearer said. “Not enough teams have gone toe-to-toe and been physical with Haaland but that’s fine, he enjoys that side of the game.
“Both players gave as good as they got and it was great to watch. There is the reaction when he scored and that’s fine, you’re allowed to do that. He’s having a laugh there saying ‘get off me’.
“Godfrey there gave him another kick and I really, really enjoyed watching that battle there. As you said, both players were smiling and going at it.”
Epic comeback
Everton hearts all broke a little seeing Godfrey stretchered off the pitch against Chelsea on the opening day of the season and he may have thought his chance to be a star at Goodison Park was over with Conor Coady and James Tarkowski arriving.
He had to wait a very long time to get his chance and when he did, he was tasked with keeping the most potent striker in world football quiet which isn’t exactly easing him back into the swing of things.
But he was tremendous all afternoon and clearly had Haaland rattled t the point he lunged into a tackle and could have easily seen red on another day.
Lampard now has to seriously consider whether to keep the back five formation for future matches or maybe even drop Tarkowski or Coady in the future if Godfrey keeps up this level of performance against the best of the best.