Jordan Pickford – 8
Pickford recovered from a worrying late challenge from Kadeem Harris in which England’s number one was thrown sideways in the air, to make a great save from Roberto Camarasa and put in another assured performance in goal for a resilient Everton side today.
Seamus Coleman – 7
Seamus bombed down the right-hand side a fair few times when he had the chance to give us a glimpse of the real Seamus Coleman, despite looking slightly hesitant on other occasions. Was caught out of position a couple of times but was covered well by the excellent Andre Gomes.
Michael Keane – 8
You just can’t drop Michael Keane at the moment. The centre-back continued his fine form with another solid performance, and had a couple of decent chances from headers too as he was as dominant as ever in the air.
Yerry Mina – 9
The centre-back that Everton have been crying out for for a while now. Yerry Mina was arrogant and ballsy, with his highlight of the game being absolutely bullying Cardiff target man Callum Paterson off the ball twice to see the ball out for a goal kick.
Lucas Digne – 8
We may just have found the perfect left-back, too. Digne was impressive again, whipping in several crosses and corners as well as defending well against a potentially tricky customer in Harris.
Andre Gomes – 9
A majestic performance from the Portuguese man. We simply have to sign this guy on a permanent deal. He covered every blade of grass in this game, dropping back into the defence when needed and helping out with the attack also, getting a couple of shots away as well as humiliating a helpless Cardiff defender.
Idrissa Gueye – 8
Gana made some excellent slide tackles, and broke up any rare Cardiff moves well despite giving the ball away for one of their only chances. If he worked on his shooting from distance, he’d be something else.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 9
Gylfi silenced the Cardiff fans who gave him stick for his time at Swansea with a match-winning performance. He could have easily had two if it weren’t for a goal-line clearance earlier in the game, and he created plenty for his teammates too. Another who ran around all day before he was brought off to a great applause.
Bernard – 6
Bernard showed glimpses of his star quality but this wasn’t his best game in blue. He was unable to make the most of his chances on a couple of occasions and was brought off in the second half.
Theo Walcott – 6
Walcott put in a decent performance after losing his grandfather this week, and it was slightly better from the winger despite missing a couple of key chances. He put himself into good positions and it was his shot from a pacy run that found its way to Sigurdsson, via Cardiff stopper Neil Etheridge, for the Icelandic man to score the winner.
Richarlison – 7
Could have put Everton in front had he made more of an opportunity from a close-range header, but worked hard throughout the game and chased every ball down while trying to find a way through the Cardiff defence.
SUBS
Ademola Lookman – 7
Lookman was very impressive when he came on, and was unlucky not to score from another tricky run, similar to the one against Chelsea, following some nippy footwork in tight spaces.
Cenk Tosun – 6
Tosun had a great opportunity to double Everton’s lead late on but his was a tame effort. Apart from that, though, it was a decent cameo.
Kurt Zouma – N/A
Zouma came on to shore up the defence for the final minutes and see out the three points.
– Tom
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