Everton bounced back from their humiliating defeat to Newcastle with a 1-0 win against Bournemouth on the south coast.
That was Everton‘s first win away at Bournemouth in 40 years, so the travelling supporters witnessed a pretty rare feat.
David Moyes’ had the much better chances and actually could’ve won by a bigger margin, so they fully deserved the three points.
Jack Grealish was the matchwinner, netting his second goal for the club, and he quite rightly earned most of the plaudits.
But, there was one Toffees star who was even better than Grealish as he went under the radar with a quite brilliant performance.
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Everton star Tim Iroegbunam was excellent in Bournemouth win
There were a number of top performers for Everton this evening, with Carlos Alcaraz and Jake O’Brien notable examples.
Although, Tim Iroegbunam was the real star of the show, and certainly silenced a lot of critics, including his own manager.
After the Newcastle game, Moyes hinted that he wasn’t happy with Iroegbunam and noted that his side really missed Idrissa Gana Gueye.
But, the former Aston Villa midfielder certainly made up for it tonight, as he was everywhere, winning 10 out of 14 duels, according to Sofascore.
Iroegbunam was also really proficient in possession of the ball, as evinced by his 89% pass completion rate.
- 51 touches
- 35 passes
- 89% pass completion
- 9 ground duels won
- 1 aerial duel won
- 5 tackles
- 7 recoveries
Tim Iroegbunam puts Harrison Armstrong decision on hold
There has been speculation about whether Everton could recall Harrison Armstrong in January to combat the absence of Gueye.
Moyes did admit that he’s considering bringing back Armstrong from his season-long loan at Preston North End.
Although, Iroegbunam’s performance tonight may have placed those plans on hold, as he looked more than capable in Gueye’s role.
If the 22-year-old can maintain that level of performance during the busy festive period, it’d probably be more benificial for Armstrong to continue his development at Deepdale.
That has been the preference all along for Moyes and the decision makers around Finch Farm.
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