Everton Run Riot In a Field of Foxes!

Two goals in the opening six minutes for the Toffees guided David Moyes' side to a 4-0 humiliation of the Foxes, allowing the Blues to climb away from the bottom three and emerging lingering doubt over Leicester's future.

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Lineups:

Everton:

Pickford

Mykolenko

Tarkowski

Branthwaite

O'Brien

Gueye

Garner

Ndiaye

Doucoure

Lindstrom

Calvert-Lewin

Leicester:

Hermansen

Kristiansen

Vestergaard

Faes

Justin

Soumare

Winks

De Cordova-Reid

El Khannouss

Ayew

Vardy

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Everton began in the first possible way. When James Garner, who made his first start since 5th October, passed it back to England's number one, Jordan Pickford, who hoofed the ball into the bundle of both Toffees and Foxes, it luckily fell straight into the path of Abdoulaye Doucoure. The Mali international took a reasonably heavy touch to surpass the two Leicester City centerbacks before striking the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, only 10 seconds after referee Darren Bond blew the whistle to mark the start of the game. In fact, it was the fastest goal ever at Goodison Park and also the fastest ever goal scored by an Everton player.

The feel-good factor around Goodison Park exceeded even further as only six minutes later the Toffees extended the advantage to two! When English centerback James Tarkowski played a lobbed through ball, Guinea-Bissau striker Beto broke the Foxes' defensive line and ended up one versus one against Danish goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. Similar to Abdoulaye Doucoure's goal, Beto placed the ball into the bottom left side of the net. Before kickoff, David Moyes spoke about how it was a perfect opportunity for Beto to change his recent form, and the 27-year-old did just that! It gets even better for Beto, however, as he ends up scoring another before the halftime whistle is blown.

When James Garner had the ball in the centre of midfield with no Leicester player pressing the 23-year-old, a pinpoint perfect pass was sent in between the two centre backs again, leaving Beto again one versus one with Hermansen. Beto placed his shot in the bottom right-hand corner in front of the Park End, choosing placement over power. Now that Calvert-Lewin is injured and looks to be for a while, now is the chance for Beto to prove why he should be starting under David Moyes. All Evertonians were in complete disbelief, and as the halftime whistle blew, it marked an extremely eventful and enjoyable first 45 minutes, for Everton at least.

Everton were also 3-0 up against Tottenham Hotspur a couple of weeks ago, and the nervy 45 minutes that followed would almost cause Moyes' Toffees to bottle the massive lead. Although Spurs are a better side than the Foxes, what would follow was more than likely to be expected.

An extremely slow second half would be what the Toffees needed, so Ruud van Nistelrooy's side would not create any chances to have the possibility to get back into the game. Up until the 90th minute, nothing much happened. A few half chances but nothing huge to report about until Iliman Ndiaye robbed the ball from a trio of Leicester players, surrounding the ball all indecisive. Nicking the ball meant there was an easy opportunity for the Senegalese attacker to mark a huge 4-0 win for both Everton's recent form and for the relegation battle, and he did just that, slotting the ball into the back of the Gwladys Street net and celebrating in his usual style.

In his post-match interview, Moyes expressed that "you could feel the feel-good factor. There was one point in the second half where I was going to turn and look round because it was a bit like what I know it can be. It can be an intimidating place if you're the opposition—it can be a great place."

On the other hand, Ruud van Nistelrooy stated that "it's the little things. The first duel and sharpness to act accordingly. It can happen; it is football. We know the situation we are in. We are together, and we want to push forward and get out of this situation."

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Gameweek 24:

Saturday, 1 February 2025:

Nottingham Forest 7-0 Brighton & Hove Albion

AFC Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool

Everton 4-0 Leicester City

Ipswich Town 1-2 Southampton

Newcastle United 1-2 Fulham

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Aston Villa

Sunday, 2 February 2025:

Brentford 14:00 Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United 14:00 Crystal Palace

Arsenal 16:30 Manchester City

Monday, 3 February 2025:

Chelsea 20:00 West Ham United

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Thank you for reading my post-match article!