PICKFORD IS THE CHRISTMAS No1
Chelsea frustrated again as Southgate sees Everton keeper shine
JORDAN PICKFORD won’t have done his World Cup prospects any harm by excelling in front of England manager Gareth Southgate as Everton’s revival continued under Sam Allardyce.
Everton didn’t muster a single shot on target but they didn’t have to in order to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches.
Pickford, clad in bright orange, threw out a strong hand to tip over a sizzling strike from Pedro and got down low to deny the Spaniard again early in the second half. For an encore, he beat away a shot from from danger-man Eden Hazard.
When Pickford was beaten, 35year-old skipper Phil Jagielka cleared off the line twice in the same move as Antonio Conte’s men tried in vain to reduce the gap on the top two Manchester clubs. They were also left cursing their luck when Ashley Williams inadvertently met a Victor Moses cross and headed against his own post.
‘This type of game, you deserve to win,’ grimaced Conte. ‘With possession and 26 shots, you have to take three points
Allardyce didn’t directly argue. ‘We scrapped it out, no doubt about that,’ he said.
At 23, Pickford is still young for a goalkeeper at top level but with Joe Hart out of West Ham’s team and Stoke struggling with Jack Butland between the sticks, he could still be England’s No1 in Russia.
‘It might be a bit early but it’s not beyond what he can deal with,’ said Allardyce, who also worked with Pickford at Sunderland. ‘He’s 23 going on 30, mature for his age. He sometimes looks at me to say: “Why are you saying that? I’m a top-class goalkeeper’’. I quite like that. Self-assurance. His starting position seems to be exceptionally good. He is able to get the right spot. But if he now thinks he has made it and doesn’t do all that practice, he won’t achieve what he can.’
There were significant absentees from both team-sheets. Wayne Rooney was absent through illness in the Everton line-up while Chelsea’s top scorer Alvaro Morata was banned after over-celebrating his midweek Carabao Cup winner against Bournemouth.
Given Chelsea’s domination, it was perhaps surprising that Conte only threw on his fox-in-thebox, Michy Batshuayi, for the final 20 minutes, Hazard working as a false No 9 beforehand.
Allardyce likes to test himself tactically against the best European coaches and had a gameplan, pushing Idrissa Gueye on to Chelsea’s holding midfielders and allowing Victor Moses plenty of space on Chelsea’s right flank while trying to crowd Marcos Alonso on the other side.
It wasn’t pretty but Allardyce will point to the point — and a record of five clean sheets in Everton’s unbeaten run — and the fans agree. The roar that greeted the final whistle couldn’t have been louder if they had managed a famous win.
They were under pressure from the 10th minute when Hazard whipped in a cross and Jagielka was on the line to block Tiemoue Bakayoko’s shot. When Willian followed up on the rebound, the same defender was there to clear again and receive a congratulatory handshake from Tom Davies.
Pickford kept Everton level with a brilliant stop as Pedro’s shot was bound for the top corner.
Allardyce went to a back-three at half-time, sacrificing Aaron Lennon and Davies, but the gamble backfired six minutes into the second period when he was forced to make his final change with Gueye hurting a hamstring.
Everton had to really dig in. Michael Keane took one for the team when booked for a late foul on Hazard to thwart a breakaway.
Pickford twice got down low to keep his team in it and there was a collective sigh of relief when the ball fizzed off Williams onto the woodwork.
Everton’s best chance came in added time when an unmarked Keane headed Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner over, though a winner then would have been daylight robbery.
‘Defensively, I can’t knock the team whatsoever,’ said Allardyce. ‘Phil Jagielka decided he wasn’t going to let Chelsea score today. Those goal-line clearances aren’t luck. That is reading the situation.’
It was Jagielka’s first start under Allardyce and justified the manager’s decision to change both centrehalves, with Williams and Mason Holgate on the bench.
At the end, Conte cut a frustrated figure.