When Sean Dyche left Everton a little over three weeks ago, the Blues had won just three games all season and were sitting a mere point above the relegation zone. It was hard to see where the next three points were coming from but in just four matches, David Moyes has equalled his predecessor’s tally of victories for the 2024/25 campaign and put nine points of daylight between Everton and the bottom three.

The defeat to Aston Villa in the “Moyesiah’s” first game back at the helm may have been a deflating indication of the size of the task he took on when he answered the call from The Friedkin Group but what has followed has been a remarkable turnaround in Everton’s fortunes. From once again toeing the edge of the abyss, the Club can genuinely begin looking upwards rather than down and on the evidence of the last three games, this isn’t simply a new-manager bounce.

For a second successive home game, the Toffees roared into a 3-0 half-time lead. Preying on a similarly open defence as the one they faced against Tottenham a fortnight ago, Moyes’s men took just 10 seconds to take the lead through Abdoulaye Doucouré and never looked back, with the hitherto un-fancied Beto grabbing a brace and Iliman Ndiaye putting the icing on the cake with a well-taken fourth goal at the end. In between, Goodison Park witnessed a side depleted in numbers but rejuvenated under the new boss play with a freedom and fluidity not seen in these parts for many a moon.

If the timing of Orel Mangala’s season-ending cruciate injury, together with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hamstring tear, seemed terrible, there was a silver lining with the return of James Garner from a long lay-off with a back injury, who was deemed fit enough to start. There were concerns that the Blues were now crippled up front given Beto’s struggles and speculation that Doucouré might be needed in central midfield but the Frenchman continued in his role behind the striker and made Goodison Park history, Beto had a field day against Leicester’s leaden-footed back line, while Garner ran the show with a man-of-the-match display in midfield.

The start and the opening tempo were perfect. Everton kicked off with a customarily launched ball forward by Jordan Pickford but while the Foxes seemed frozen in time, Doucouré tracked its flight, catching the bounce perfectly on his chest in stride. That took him clear of the last man and he hammered it emphatically across Mads Hermansen and into the far corner to put the Toffees ahead before the late-comers in the crowd had even reached their seats.

At 10.18 seconds, it was the fastest goal in Everton’s history — by extension, the quickest ever scored at Goodison — beating Howard Kendall’s strike against Chelsea in 1970 by four seconds, and it banished any pre-match nerves that might have been present given that this was still, strictly speaking, another relegation six-pointer.

Within five minutes, it was 2-0. A look at Beto’s highlight reel from his time at Udinese showed that perhaps his greatest strength — apart from his actual physical prowess — is playing off the shoulder of the last man but evidently that was either lost on Dyche or he lacked the faith in his team to play that way. Today, the Portuguese plundered two goals by racing in behind and finishing confidently. The first was laid on by James Tarkowski who bent a ball down the channel that Beto latched onto and lashed past Madsen.

His second would come in first-half stoppage time but, in between, Everton could have been out of sight. Jake O’Brien thought he had scored his first Premier League goal but after turning in a fortunate rebound off Jarrad Branthwaite’s head, he was flagged for a clear offside.

Then, in the 34th minute, Madsen’s poor clearance was intercepted by Garner and when he played Beto in, the striker was flattened by Jannik Vestergaard in the box but referee Darren Bond waved away his appeals for a penalty. You got the feeling that had it been 0-0, the official might have awarded it because replays clearly showed it was more than simple coming together of players.

Everton were growing in confidence and starting to exhibit some lovely football, exemplified by the slick passing move that ended with Ndiaye slipping a pass to Garner and it took quick reflexes from the goalkeeper to palm the latter’s effort onto the post and behind to keep the score at 2-0.

Shortly afterwards, in a sight rarely seen under the previous management, Vitalii Mykolenko marauded down the left on the overlap to collect a lovely chipped ball from Branthwaite and crossed low for Doucouré but with the goal at his mercy, he side-footed over the bar.

While one brace went begging, another was seized in first-half stoppage time. This time Garner was the creator, threading a beautifully-weighted precision pass between the two centre-halves for Beto to gallop into space and calmly stroke the ball wide of Hermansen to put Everton into a commanding position at the halfway stage.

In the wake of Nottingham Forest’s staggering 7-0 win over Brighton in the lunchtime kick-off, Evertonian thoughts might have turned at this point to the 7-1 demolition of Sunderland under Moyes 17 years ago but the Blues did take their foot off the pedal to a degree in the second half as the visitors tried to claw their way back into the contest.

Leicester’s only meaningful chance in the first period had come from successive corners when an initial scramble was blocked and Victor Kristiansen blazed the rebound narrowly over the crossbar. And though they huffed and puffed at times in the second half, only substitute Patson Daka managed to prompt a save from Pickford off a lay-off from Bobby deCordova-Reid.

Instead, it was Moyes’s men who had the better chances to add to the scoreline, none better than the one handed to Jesper Lindstrøm by Doucouré’s square ball to open his account but the Dane’s drive was parried by the keeper moment before he departed the fray to be replaced by Ashley Young.

A minute later, Ndiaye jinked his way inside and saw a shot deflected inches wide and, later, sub Jack Harrison drove a routine low effort straight at the keeper but the cherry on the cake arrived in the 90th minute. Still harrying Wout Faes and Caleb Okoli to last, Ndiaye profited from a ricochet off one of the defenders that left him with time and space to bear down on Hermansen and slot past him to complete the rout at 4-0.

At full-time against Villa 17 days ago, it still felt like Moyes was going to have drag his new charges up the mountain but on the back of three straight wins, the Toffees can finally start to breathe a little easier. Realistically, the magic 40-point mark is no longer the target — it’s 14 seasons since that tally was required in order to remain in the Premier League — but on this evidence, regardless of what happens in the transfer market over the next 48 hours, Everton should comfortably reach it.

With Ipswich falling to the bottom club, Southampton, on their own turf today and the Blues comfortably despatching Leicester, it does look as though the three promoted teams are doomed to return to the Championship. On current form, the Blues should now be able to relax, continue to plan on top-flight football when Bramley-Moore Dock opens its doors to its first professional game in August, while also giving Goodison Park a fitting send-off. More afternoons and evenings like the last two at the Grand Old Lady, and she will get just that.


Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers

Frank Sheppard
1 
Posted 01/02/2025 at 22:17:53

Thank you David Moyes, what a pleasure to have you back.

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