- Everton secured their third victory in succession as they beat Leicester 4-0
- Abdoulaye Doucoure scored early on with Beto then hitting a brace
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In terms of new manager bounce, David Moyes owns the world’s biggest trampoline. Three weeks after his appointment, a jumping Goodison Park is unrecognisable from the theatre of gloom of Sean Dyche‘s last days.
Buoyed by the Premier League‘s quickest goal of the season converted by Abdoulaye Doucoure after 10 seconds, Everton convincingly recorded a third consecutive win for the first time since last April.
Beto, deputising for the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin, scored a brace having previously not scored a league goal since October and Iliman Ndiaye’s late fourth gave the final scoreline a true reflection.
Leicester’s eighth defeat in nine under Ruud van Nistelrooy was one of their most embarrassing, all over the place at the back and not registering a shot on target until the 73rd minute.
The travelling fans distracted themselves by chanting ‘sack the board’ and singing in praise of former managers Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieiri.
Current boss Ruud van Nistelrooy enjoyed Goodison as player, scoring five times for Manchester United, but not any more.
‘We wanted to build on our win at Spurs but we threw it out the window by going 2-0 down after six minutes. It’s not good enough. We have to acknowledge that,’ he said.
Not that Everton will care about the Foxes’ problems. Their club has had its problems in recent years so they deserved to make the most of a joyous afternoon.
The omens weren’t good with Moyes having to pick a team without the injured Orel Mangala and Calvert-Lewin.
But Beto was a revelation at centre-forward and midfield creator James Garner started his first game for four months following a back problem and was absolutely brilliant.
Some fans hadn’t even taken to their seats when Everton struck the first blow.
The kick off was played back to Jordan Pickford and his raking pass, or long punt depending on your point of view, reached Doucoure motoring towards the Leicester box.
The midfielder took one touch on his chest to control and a second to belt a low finish past Hermansen for his first league goal of the campaign and the fastest ever recorded in Everton’s history.
As the fans chanted Moyes’ name, Everton doubled their lead after six minutes.
Again, it was too simple from a Leicester point of view. James Tarkowski played an angled ball from inside his own half and Beto was able to run goalside of Wout Faes and had time to measure a low shot across Hermansen.
It was a confident finish from the 27-year-old considering his recent lack of success in front of goal.
The dejected look on the visitor’s faces said it all while van Nistelrooy stood arms folded. From the posh seats, chairman ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha didn’t look impressed by what he was watching, or hearing from disgruntled fans.
City desperately needed to reach half-time without conceding a third. Goalkeeper Mads Hermansen tipped Garner’s shot around the post but was helpless to stop Beto from adding another just before the interval.
Garner split the Leicester defence with a precise pass that allowed his team-mate to run onto and finish. It was notable the blue shirts raced to the assist-maker for the celebrations.
Everton had nearly squandered a 3-0 lead in their previous home game against Spurs but there was little chance of a Leicester comeback.
Jamie Vardy was hooked after an hour to the glee of Evertonians who chanted ‘going down’ towards their Leicester counterparts.
Vardy’s replacement Patson Daka forced a first save of the afternoon from Pickford but it was comfortable.
Moyes cleverly withdrew Beto with a couple of minutes left in order for him to receive some love from the crowd.
‘Sometimes in life you need an opportunity,’ said the manager about his understudy striker’s impressive showing.
‘The reception he got leaving the pitch was as good as Goodison has probably seen for a long time.’
Having built a cushion between Everton and the bottom three unexpectedly quickly, Moyes finds himself in the unusual position of having to dampen expectations.
‘I am certainly not getting carried away,’ he said. ‘We can’t deny this was a big result for us but the job to be done is to make sure we are a Premier League club next year.’
Everton are now nine points clear of relegation – with Leicester occupying 18th place.
