We snagged the top spot for Christmas after beating Everton 1-0 away, our first time playing at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Viktor Gyokeres scored the only goal with a penalty. Adrian Clarke re-watched the game and pointed out what made us win on Merseyside.

Solid Defense

Our win came down to being solid and in charge.

We really focused on not letting Everton do much, and they only got 0.2 expected goals, which is their lowest this season.

We kept them at a distance without too much trouble. David Moyes’ team only got five shots (their second-lowest this season) and just one on target (tied for the lowest).

That one shot was a weak, looping header from Charly Alcaraz that went straight into David Raya’s hands.

That hopeful play was one of only two times a blue shirt got a pass or cross into a dangerous spot at Hill Dickinson Stadium during the whole game.

Everton – Successful Passes and Crosses

It was a team thing to shut down Everton’s attack, but Piero Hincapie should get a shout-out for dominating our third of the field.

He was tough and determined, clearing the ball a team-high ten times.

Rice Steps Up

Declan Rice was amazing again.

He hung back a bit more than usual, dropping between our centre-backs to start plays from our own half. He’d draw Everton in and then either pass forward or run with the ball.

He was key to our better play in the second half, grabbing important loose balls, like ten recoveries.

Rice controlled the ball, had the most touches, and was strong at winning it back and protecting our goal. He was in great form.

This chart shows all the work he did on the left side.

Rice Defensive Chalkboard – Recoveries, Clearances, Tackles, Interceptions

Strong on the Right

Our right side was where we looked best, with Jurrien Timber and Bukayo Saka gelling super well.

Timber timed his runs down the wing perfectly, and they were often too hot for Everton to handle.

Saka picked him out on this clever inside run, and a deflected cross gave us the corner that led to the winning penalty.

Timber kept bombing down the right after halftime, and Saka found him with a great pass.

Saka got a cutback pass from the right back but was unlucky when James Tarkowski cleared his shot off the line.

This map shows we got into Everton's area on the right side way more than on the left.

Vitaliy Mykolenko, Everton’s left back, was overwhelmed since Jack Grealish didn’t always track Timber or Odegaard’s runs.

Could've Won by More

We were all nervous in the last ten minutes because one mistake could have cost us the game, but we should've won by more.

We had some smooth passing plays that tore Everton apart during the game.

Two of those plays ended with us hitting the woodwork.

The first one would have been an amazing team goal. A sweet 14-pass play ended with Leandro Trossard hitting the post.

We passed through Everton’s pressure easily, got the ball down the right, and found some great angles to mess with them.

Odegaard passed to Rice, who passed perfectly to Trossard. He probably wished he’d curled the ball more to get it in the corner.

Then, David Raya, Declan Rice, and Leandro Trossard (whose pass let Riccardo Calafiori run forward) got involved. The Italian passed to Bukayo Saka for a 2v1.

Odegaard ran forward smartly and cut the ball back to Martin Zubimendi, who hit the post.

The stats might say we only had two shots on target from 13 tries, but we played some great passing football.

If we’d finished better, we’d have won easily.

Penalty Taker

Viktor Gyokeres has now scored 17 penalties in a row in league games since the start of 2023/24, and he hit his penalty on Merseyside with power.

Odegaard and Saka are both great options, too, but it was cool to see the leaders pick our Swedish striker to take it.

It helped both the team and Gyokeres, who hadn’t scored in his last five games.

Gyokeres smacked the ball in and put us back at the top.