Listen to the article
Alex Iwobi was one of the standout performers as struggling Everton defeated Leeds 3-0 at Goodison Park in Saturday’s league tie, Completesports.com reports.
It was Everton’s first Premier League won since a 2-1 comeback win against Arsenal on 6th December, 2021.
Iwobi has come under serious criticism this season at Everton, put in a five star performance against Leeds to help new manager Frank Lampard with is first league win for the Toffees.
The Super Eagles star stats in the win include: 82.9% pass accuracy, 61 total touches, 13 attacking third passes, nine ball recoveries, six round duels won, five chances created and three tackles made.
Also Read: CWC: Ighalo Benched As Al Ahly Thrash Al Hilal To Claim Bronze Medal
Everton took the lead in the 10th minute thanks to Seamus Coleman who raced through to nod in a loose ball.
In the 23rd minute Michael Keane doubled the advantage, heading home Anthony Gordon’s corner.
And with 78 minute left, Everton went 3-0 up as Richarlison’s shot clipped Anthony Gordon on the way into the back of the net.
Everton are in 16th position on 22 points just five points above the relegation zone in the league table.
At Vicarage Road, Watford’s poor run continued as they lost 2-0 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
While Emmanuel Dennis saw action for 90 minutes his Nigerian teammates William Troost-Ekong and new signing Samuel Kalu were not in Watford match day squad.
Dennis has now failed to score in his last five games for Watford. He last scored in December 2021 in a 4-1 home loss to West Ham.
The Hornets have now gone 12 consecutive games without a win, with their last victory a 4-1 win against Manchester United in November 2021.
With just a minute left in the first half, Brighton found the opener through Neal Maupay who met Tariq Lamptey’s cross before hooking it into the top corner.
And in the 82 minute Adam Webster doubled the Seagull’s lead, stabbing home from a corner.
The defeat leaves Watford second from bottom on 15 points after 23 games played.
And at Brentford Community Stadium, Frank Onyeka was benched as Brentford held Crystal Palace to a goalless draw.
Prior to Saturday’s game, Brentford had lost their last six games and the last time they won a game was on January 22 which was a 4-1 FA Cup win at Port Vale.
By James Agberebi
27 Comments
Dennis, what’s happening? You need to bounce back. You should have just gone to afcon to add to your CV. So sorry bfornthis poor run. I hope it will stop soon. Good luck.
LMFAO!!!
Captain Ekong missing from match day squad again!!! Cerezo keep note !
Iwobi was superb and full of confidence.
If only he can continue in this great form
He should keep it up and improve his game more because he has not been performing at a higher level ,the team is paying him and besides they have a new coach.
The reason why Kalu is still on the bench is falsification of age related issue. This is the 3rd time he’s been benched. It is likely going to affect his productivity.
That is ehn, very wrong of him to have forged his age. This should serve as a lesson to other players. NFF should also be vetting their ages because this is an insult to not just Nigerians but the Super Eagles especially.
Kalu needs deliverance otherwise he might go inside. Age falsification is a serious offence though some tribal idiots in their usual garb are defending him on here…,….. Watford fans already thought otherwise.
@Fepili loyri, Watford fans are already agitating and at the same time, white people don’t believe in the Nigeria kind of deliverance, so he faces the music squarely.
Nigerians really course Watford o what’s happening Watford should plead for forgiveness
Never doubted Iwobi’s quality on his day, although tends to have off days. If only the Senegalese referee wasn’t protecting his country’s interest, Iwobi’s intro would have yielded a goal against Tunisia. You could feel the impact in less than 2 minutes. But the ref knew if Nigeria had stayed on, it would be hard for Senegal to get their first Afcon. And what’s up with Samuel Kalu. You have the talent, hope we won’t have an early retirement.
That was the job that referee did… He waited for a chance to justify his actions… aided by a VAR room full of North African Arabs.. anyone can critique my opinion as they deem fit. How can CAF assign a senegalese referee to our game with Senegal in our direct path… there will be conflict of interest for sure… after our game that referee Afcon job ended!
Keep deceiving yourself and putting the blame on the poor referee who did his job well. Better channel your blame to the right quarters namely…………Eguavoen, Amaju Pinnick, NFF, Dare, Aina, Ndidi and Sadiq
Hehehehehe….are you minding these bunch of conspiracy theorists….LMAOOooo.
Im sure it was the referee that gave the assist for the goal Tunisia scored and also went on to stamp on the ankle of the Tunisian player….LMAOoo
Maybe the Egypt vs Morocco match was also reffed by the same Senegalese to “clear the path” for an Egypt vs Senegal and not a Morocco vs Senegal Final…..LMAOOOo. Some people can lie…!
We watch every weekend the same rules applied all over the world, but once its applied to Nigeria we concoct all sorts of stories around it…..LMAOOooo
That Senegalese ref shouldnt have reffed any match in that AFCON at all at all sef….LMAOooo…since there was a 1/24 percent probability of any of the other 23 teams meeting Senegal in the tournament….LMAOooo…since every team someway somehow had a Senegal on its path to the AFCON trophy ceteris paribus.
Even the VAR ref on the night who happened to be a Mexican was also working for Senegal too…..LMAOOoooo.
@Kel, Watford realized so late that it has been duped by a fake birth certificate of Samuel Kalu that is why he must be kept on the bench possibly till the end of the season.
Must all focus be on the super eagles?
This lazy football administrators just choose to focus on super eagles for greed and their selfishness. Because is easier to assemble foreign talents for competitions. And it seems is working by that.
What is happening to U23 team, U21 team, U17 team and the CHAN TEAM?
Look at what other countries both in Africa and other parts of the world is doing:
09:00Moldova U16 – FC Minsk U17 -:-
10:00Kyrgyzstan U16 – Georgia U17 -:-
11:20Tajikistan U16 – Uzbekistan U17 -:-
12:20Din. Minsk U17 – Belarus U17 -:-
13:00Portugal U17 – Slovakia U17 -:-
14:40Belarus U16 – Israel U17 -:-
17:00Spain U17 – Germany U17 -:-
These are friendlies for age grade teams. Where is our own? Ohhhhhh I guess when is time they will gather over age players for cheating.
I repeat the problem of Nigerian football is NFF. We can’t even organize local friendlies for this team. Is shameful.
I go with your 2nd to the last paragraph. It was very wrong of Samuel Kalu to cheat with his age. Watford fans might boo him if and when his coach decided to test the water. It is common with Ibo tribe like Silas Nwankwo who is also going to the bench of Swedish club, Mjallby. We are only being emotional otherwise these cheats shouldn’t be accepted anywhere.
Oga, don’t make this a tribal stuff, get some sense. Age cheat is common everywhere in Nigeria, or at least most pronounced in the south.
@Abdul, my name is not Kalu neither is Nwankwo. Ibo people are well known to be like that all over the place. They are worst here in Indian tarnishing our country image. Don’t be deceived.
People like you are the problem we have in Nigeria. Tribal bigots. Are we even sure that your passport bears your true age. When Kalu was balling well for Nigeria everyone was applauding him. Go and tell your government to have a proper birth identification system. Kalu will surely play some matches if needed. This age bullshit is not bigger than relegation battle for Watford. Age cheat is bad but oyebo are the worse cheats available anyday.
Nyamirin, everyone knows you are only been emotional. Tell your Ibo brothers to stop age cheats. The whites are investigating them is the reason they are benched. Salami AB can’t be faulted.
Thanks @Johnson. These people failed to realized that being sentimental is not the solution.
This is bitter pill to swallow by NFF. Thumb up my brother. NFF is broke
Here we again overhyping thing, standout performance yeah right, an average player with average performance
When your papa make am to the stage he is playing let’s see if he will be above average abi why your mama no go play. Fools will sit and bring down others like he is not trying his best. Why no encourage the young man you evil bastard!
Based on pedigree and experience Iwobi should be starting that Round of 16 match ahead of Chukwueze sentiments apart I understand Chukwueze was just coming out of a very serious injury, but it was glaring for a blind Barthomew to see that he was our weakest link in Cameroon. Chukwueze was made too comfortable that he feels he earned the starting shirt ahead of an Iwobi. That’s why I like Iwobi’s outspokenness that he should be starting. Iwobi and Iheanacho know how to interchange positions as we saw in our goal against Guinea Bissau.
If Iheanacho is not playing as a top striker for the SuperEagles he can function well as a right sided midfielder like he did at U17 WorldCup. And how can you not dress Ejuke at Lear to be on the bench in a very important match?? Who does that?? Well as far I’m concerned it is the WorldCup ticket or nothing.
Sun Tzu or whatever normally I don’t respond to child of a broken condom like u, Iwobi and his father will pray for my lifestyle, because we in this same forum I know blame u