Everton And Calvert-Lewin Find Goals From The Right Place At The Right Time

Everton scored more than two goals in one game for the first time this season during their victory against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Saturday.

The win will give the team confidence they can overcome their goalscoring struggles and the source of those goals was also very encouraging.

Going into the game against Palace, Everton had won just two of their previous eight games and had lost their last three.

Also worrying was the fact they had only scored one goal in those previous three games and had one of the worst attacking records in the league in terms of goals scored.

They had lacked goals from their wide forwards as well as their central attackers, and their low levels of attacking prowess had left them perilously close to the teams in the relegation zone.

There was one positive in attack during that recent run. Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin made his first start of the season against Newcastle, and though his side failed to score in that game, Everton manager Frank Lampard will have been glad to see his star forward get through 73 minutes of action unscathed.

The English forward has struggled to remain healthy in recent seasons and having him available is a big bonus, not just for Everton, but potentially for England too.

Lampard had also reinforced the idea that his wide forwards need to contribute to more goals.

“We competed with [Newcastle] well in the middle part of the pitch generally, but not particularly in the attacking box, and that is when you get to work and have to find ways,” Lampard said of the previous game.

“Whether that involves having a fullback higher up the pitch, or midfielders joining in more while keeping security, we have to make sure we do that to connect from back to front in possession.

“Our wingers are relatively young and none of them have scored as many goals as I think they should do, and they can contribute more on that side [of the game],” he added.

“We work on that a lot and talk about it a lot and the reality is that we need to do that more.

“So it is a joint responsibility. I take it for the team structure but the players, we want them to be more prolific in those areas.”

So when it came to the 3-0 win against Palace, Everton could not have dreamed of a better result and a better group of goalscorers.

That the goals came from their returning striker and two of their wide players, one coming about after a shot from a left-back in an attacking position, was the perfect tonic and the perfect response to Lampard’s comments.

Even if England is at the back of his mind, the first step for Calvert-Lewin was to get back among the goals for his club, and that is something he did with aplomb.

He received a pass from Alex Iwobi on the edge of the box, but still had the recently capped England international centre-back Marc Guehi to beat. He did so thanks to an excellent first touch directly into the area, bustling past Guehi who fell to the ground, before finishing convincingly past Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

The second goal arrived after Guaita had saved a shot from left-back Vitalii Mykolenko, with winger Anthony Gordon on hand to tap home, while the third came from Dwight McNeil following more great play from Iwobi.

One game is often enough to change a team’s whole outlook for the better or for the worse, and this result was a prime example of the former. That it was at their Goodison Park home added to the feelgood factor for Everton, sending fans home with evidence that the things their manager was looking to improve, have actually improved.

The club will still be looking to improve their squad in the January 2023 transfer window, and will need to bear in mind the times they may not have been at their best this season when assessing the areas they need to strengthen.

But this result against Palace was an ideal way to kick off this run of games before the break for the World Cup.

It’s much better to be building from a position of strength than be looking to save a poor season.

If they keep this up, Everton fans, players, and staff could be spending their World Cup break looking up the Premier League table rather than down it.