CARLO BOOT HITS TARGET
Ancelotti anger helps Toffees stick it to Leeds
THAT kick up the backside from Carlo Ancelotti and his Italian leather size nines certainly did the trick.
Ancelotti laid into his Everton players after their shock loss at home to Newcastle on Saturday, branding their display “lazy and slow”.
The Blues boss got the desired response as Everton played like a side with Champions League ambitions to halt Leeds’ minirenaissance at Elland Road.
This committed performance was more like what Ancelotti wants to see as Everton recorded a fourth straight league away win for the first time since way back in December 1985.
Skipper Gylfi Sigurdsson shone in the No.10 role, the Icelandic playmaker scoring one and having a hand in
Dominic Calvert-lewin’s first Premier League goal since December 5.
It was the perfect moment for Calvert-lewin to score his first in eight games in front of England boss Gareth Southgate.
Leeds were undone at home yet again on the break and from set-pieces.
No one picked up Sigurdsson’s run for his strike and Calvert-lewin’s header was the eighth goal they have conceded from a set-piece.
Leeds had enough possession and created enough chances to claim at least a point and were frustrated by a combination of Robin Olsen and the woodwork.
Sweden goalkeeper Olsen, who stood in for the injured Jordan Pickford, made a number of saves to deny them, including quick succession.
Leeds also had no luck and Ezgjan Alioski and Patrick Bamford both hit the woodwork.
Leeds struggled to keep their footing on the new Elland Road surface and Jack Harrison slipped in the build-up to Everton’s first goal on nine minutes. Everton won possession from Harrrison’s slip and Andre Gomes found Lucas Digne on the left, whose cross was met by Sigurdsson (left) to apply the finishing touch.
Leeds responded well and Alioski hit the post with a superb left-foot volley from just outside the box.
They kept probing and Pascal Struijk’s glancing header from Harrison’s excellent free-kick brushed
three
in
Calvert-lewin before being saved by Olsen.
But they were felled by a sucker punch four minutes before the interval when Ben Godfrey headed on Sigurdsson’s whipped-in corner and Calvert-lewin nodded home at the back post.
Leeds needed a response and they got one three minutes into the second half when Mason Holgate failed to clear under pressure from Harrison and Bamford teed up Raphinha to side-foot home into the far corner.
The home side piled on the pressure in their search for an equaliser and Olsen saved in quick succession from Bamford, Raphinha and Harrison.
Everton’s defence was creaking and Bamford went agonisingly close to levelling affairs when his header from Stuart Dallas’ cross grazed the top of the bar.