Everton hunt down Foxes

Match Report: Leicester City 0 Everton 2

By Matt Townsend: On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey Journalist

Everton made it two wins in two and consecutive clean sheets as they beat Leicester City 2-0 last night.

Going into the match the Blues were trying to replicate the excellent performance they produced against Chelsea and try and keep another clean sheet too, something they’ve struggled to do all season.

It was a tough ask against a quality Leicester side and again Everton were missing their talisman Colombian forward James Rodriguez still injured.

Carlo Magnifico went with the same team that started at Goodison Park on Saturday night, with one exception. Jordan Pickford after having one of his best games against Chelsea was dropped for Robin Olsen. The Swede got only his second Premier League start.

Leicester started brightly but it was the Toffees who took the lead when Richarlison picked up the ball, cut inside and fired a shot into the far corner for his first goal in seven games. Kasper Schmeichel got his fingers to the ball but couldn’t keep it out.

Everton were generally on top in the rest of the first half but then just before halftime midfielder Allan pulled up and had to go off with a suspected hamstring injury. Andre Gomes came on or him but losing the Brazilian defensive lynchpin was a massive blow.

Leicester had a good spell after the break when they out the Blues under real pressure and this was a test for that makeshift backline but it again held up well. The two full-backs Holgate and Godfrey were solid again and in between them Micheal Keane and Yerry Mina also had good games.

But the best performance was from Abdoulaye Doucoure who had a magnificent match in midfield stepping up superbly for his injured partner.

Having rode out the Leicester pressure the Toffees then added a second to effectively kill the game. Following a corner there was a scramble in the box before Holgate forced the ball home for his first ever Everton goal.

There were a couple of wobbles late on when Gomes appeared to have conceded a penalty, overturned on review and Leicester had the ball in the net but again it was ruled out for offside.
So, Everton had held on for another crucial three points and are up to fifth again in Premier League. Roll on Arsenal at the weekend..