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It was just a one-word expletive, but, coming from the mouth of a coach facing an eighth loss in nine Premier League games, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s immediate reaction to the two late chances Southampton wasted at Everton was the sound. of despair, anger and disbelief.
“We are missing the final blow,” Hasenhüttl later lamented. But Southampton’s opponents keep throwing their punches. Richarlison’s last early precision strike gave Everton their first league win at home of 2021 and moved Carlo Ancelotti’s side two points behind fourth-ranked West Ham with a game in hand.
“We have a chance to be in the top four for two or three days,” said the Everton manager, who visits West Bromwich Albion on Thursday. “We would like to play the position even if it is only for a few days.”
He and Hasenhüttl look in opposite directions. Southampton had created little at Goodison Park but should have earned a point when the first Moussa Djenepo went wide with only Jordan Pickford to win in the 84th minute and then in injury time Jannik Vestergaard had another glorious opportunity to level after a pinball spot inside Everton’s penalty area. Pickford turned it off with a gutsy and crucial save from close range and Southampton’s hopes of taking just a second point out of the last 27 available were dashed.
A seven point gap between them and Fulham offers only limited comfort in such a damaging race. “We know the situation we are in,” insisted the Southampton coach. “We are short of goals and the final blow is not there, but tonight I replaced three players from the academy due to our injury situation and not many Premier League teams have to do that. It is not so easy to find our way back to where we have been, but you can be sure that we will find our way out. “
For Ancelotti, this was the result, if not the performance, he needed after Everton’s long-awaited victory in Liverpool last time. A nervous finish from the hosts was to be expected as they held a slight lead for their first home win of the year.
After three consecutive league losses at Goodison, aesthetics will not worry the Everton manager, although there remains a stark contrast between his team’s performances at home and away. “It was a really important victory,” Ancelotti said. “We worked hard, we were strong defensively and in the end we deserved to win.”
Everton led from their first significant attack. It was a good goal produced by a combination of steel and silk. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, making a first start in four games following a hamstring injury, won a towering header against Mohammed Salisu as the pair challenged for a punt from Pickford. Calvert-Lewin proved too strong for Salisu and James Ward-Prowse by winning the second ball as well.
A touch from his shoulder fell to Gylfi Sigurdsson, who threw a perfectly weighted pass behind Vestergaard as Richarlison circled Fraser Forster and scored from a sharp angle. It was the Brazilian international’s fifth goal in five games and a final that confirmed that the forward’s confidence had fully recovered. That said, you could and perhaps should have doubled your account before the interval.
The visitors conceded a series of free throws in dangerous wide positions and flirted with danger in each. His offside trap worked the first time around, catching Richarlison swerving too early as he ran to Sigurdsson’s play and tested Forster with a nose dive.
They just got away with Everton’s next free kick from the right, though that was mostly due to VAR and a training ground routine that confused the blue and red. Sigurdsson took the form to launch the free throw, but left it for Lucas Digne, who threw a pitch to the back post where Mason Holgate headed back and Michael Keane finished off bravely. Holgate, however, had strayed from the game when Digne finally delivered.
Everton’s third free kick routine, again from Sigurdsson on the right, should have brought a second goal for Ancelotti’s side. This time Richarlison escaped the Southampton offside trap but, flinging himself to the cross, missed point-blank range.
Without the luxury of a second goal, Everton never felt comfortable against a Southampton side that refused to let them settle on the ball and carried a threat of their own from set pieces. However, it was only in the final stages that they seriously threatened a draw, but Hasenhüttl had to curse the waste of his team and the continued slide into trouble.
