Goodison still bad for rock-bottom Moyes
Gueye and Lukaku goals sink sad Sunderland and have Koeman’s men chasing top-six spot
FORMER Everton manager David Moyes suffered the same scoreline on his only other return to Goodison Park with Manchester United in 2014.
On that occasion, the Scot was promptly sacked at Old Trafford. A similar fate doesn’t await him this time but this defeat is another blow to Sunderland’s chances of staying in the Premier League.
Goals in each half from Idrissa Gueye and Romelu Lukaku gave Everton a deserved win to keep them bubbling along nicely in seventh. It was Gueye’s first goal for the club and Lukaku’s 23rd of the season, the striker’s run and finish coming just two minutes after Jermain Defoe had struck the crossbar with the visitors’ best chance.
The upshot is that Sunderland remained rooted to the bottom of the table and are now three points from safety.
Moyes, who spent 11 years on Merseyside, was not the only ex-Bluenose who failed to enjoy himself. Both Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson in the Sunderland line-up had difficult games as they struggled to contain the energetic Gueye and marauding right-back Seamus Coleman.
Not that Moyes, who was criticised at the start of the season for predicting a relegation battle, is throwing in the towel.
‘Today’s game was always going to be tough,’ he said. ‘We have 12 games to go and I am looking forward to our good run. We are not far away. Sunderland have been in this position before and hopefully that experience will help us. I wanted to come here and keep the crowd quiet because I know what they’re like. But I thought we were really poor in the first half.’
Everton had hit 10 goals in their previous two home games against Manchester City and Bournemouth and dominated the first half.
Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford was rusty, having been out since Boxing Day with a knee injury, and was lucky to keep out shots by Ademola Lookman and Gueye. The breakthrough after 40 minutes came from an unlikely source with Gueye more noted for his tackling than goalscoring.
Coleman broke down the right and surprisingly chose to pick out the Senegal midfielder on the edge of the box rather than Lukaku closer in. But it proved the right decision as Gueye cracked a rising shot with his right foot to net for only the second time in 60 games in English football, the first for Aston Villa against Wycombe in the FA Cup last season.
Morgan Schneiderlin struck the post with virtually the last kick of the first half and the let-off convinced Sunderland they were still in with a shout.
Their big moment arrived after 78 minutes when top scorer Defoe found space in the penalty area and hit a shot that deflected onto the underside of the crossbar.
The striker thought the ball had crossed the line but the confirmation bleep never arrived.
‘Without technology, it might have been given. It looked in from where we were,’ said a rueful Moyes.
Within two minutes, Everton had capitalised on their escape. Lukaku was allowed to run from just inside his own half and though Oviedo made a last-ditch attempt to block, Lukaku’s finish deflected off his leg past Pickford. It was the Belgian’s 17th league goal, leaving him level as Everton’s joint-highest Premier League goal scorer with Duncan Ferguson, who celebrated with him at fulltime (left). Manager Ronald Koeman hasn’t given up hope of catching the top six even though there is a four-point gap to Manchester United, who have a game in hand.
‘Even when it is five or six points, it is possible if we keep the momentum,’ he said. ‘We had a dangerous moment when they hit the crossbar but we got away with it.’
On Lukaku, Koeman added: ‘There is a long way to go to be top scorer. His quality is scoring because he’s strong, fast, one of the best. And I think he can improve.’
Improvement will also be on Moyes’ mind with Manchester City up next followed by more winnable fixtures against Burnley, Watford and Leicester. He has a big choice to make whether to keep Pickford in goal or recall Vito Mannone, who missed this game through illness.