BBC Sport pundit stunned by what he saw from ‘outstanding’ Everton in 5-1 demolition v Brighton
BBC Sport pundit Danny Gabbidon was left astonished by the “outstanding” Everton move that produced their third goal of Monday night (8 May) to remember against Brighton.
The Toffees turned on the style at the AMEX Stadium with braces for Dwight McNeil and Abdoulaye Doucoure as well as an own goal from Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele seeing the final score read 5-1 and Everton climb up to 16th in the Premier League table.
The third goal for Sean Dyche’s side, which came after just 35 minutes, was a rapid counter-attack which saw Dwight McNeil drive to the byline, fire a low cross into the six-yard box, and Steele inadvertently poke home into his own net.
“I’m struggling to believe this,” Gabbidon said. [BBC Sport live blog, 18:09pm]
“Everton have been outstanding on the counter-attack.
“I don’t know what’d going on with Brighton, they look leggy.”
Simply brilliant
Where on earth this Everton side have been hiding, who knows, but let’s hope they’re here to stay.
Right from the first whistle, every single one of Dyche’s players were on the ball, pressing aggressively, snapping into tackles and generally making Brighton’s lives extremely hard – especially in the middle of the park.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin looked back to his best in leading the line and ran both Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster ragged in the opening 45 minutes, with both defenders picking up bookings for their troubles.
Dwight McNeil and Abdoulaye Doucoure both showed off their impressive engines, getting back to defend over large portions of times when the Seagulls had the ball but also showing some blistering pace to get forward and supply Everton a threat on the counter-attack.
Brighton were caught out and could possibly be branded a touch complacent by the way they started the game, but all the credit must go to Dyche and his coaching staff for getting his players in the mindset for such a brilliant start.
After months and months of disappointment, Everton have finally come to life.