MATCH REPORT : EVERTON 1-0 BURNLEY

Carlo Ancelotti opened his Everton managerial account with a win, which really was the only thing any Evertonian cared about after an uninspiring Premier League clash at Goodison Park.

Ancelotti was given a rousing reception by the Goodison Park faithful, and was almost rewarded with the perfect start but somehow Mason Holgate allowed Nick Pope to keep out his close range effort on 3 minutes.

Burnley rather predictably came looking for a point and showed little interest in trying to score a goal. There tried and trusted ‘low block’ defensive system frustrated Everton for long periods and made for a pretty dour 1st half. James Tarkowski and Ben Mee marshalled their defence brilliantly and threw themselves in front of any shot that Everton could muster and when they didn’t manage to get a block in from a Djibril Sidibe strike, Pope was on hand to make a smart save.

The second half had the same feel to it, Everton had more possession and shots than their opponents without putting Burnley under serious pressure.

Burnley continued to show little attacking intent, evidenced in the fact that none of their 6 attempts were on target, and only looked like a marginal threat from set pieces. Everton however, were not that much better either.

Moise Kean was given a rousing reception when Carlo Ancelotti decided he needed something different up top and introduced him for the final 13 minutes. He still had not really made any impact three minutes later when Everton finally broke the deadlock.

Dwight McNeil lost possession to Gylfi Sigurdsson who fed Sidibé on the right hand side, his wonderful cross from the right was met by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s fantastic diving header beyond Nick Pope and in off the post.

It was no more than Everton deserved and ensured that Ancelotti’s reign got off to a winning start. Everton will play better than this but they continued their upturn in form that Duncan Ferguson started, it is now 4 games unbeaten, and two clean sheets on the spin which is a good platform for Ancelotti to build upon.

The Italian was full of praise for match winner Calvert-Lewin after the game, he said :

“Dominic is a fantastic striker in my opinion, very good in the air. Where he might improve is in movement without the ball, he has to be more focused on the goal. He is very generous in moving up and down, left and right, but I would like to see him more focused on the box.”

How they lined up : 

Barry Cass