The Toffees ended their winless streak of 13 league games with a crucial victory in Saturday’s six-pointer against Burnley, marking their first win since December.
Sean Dyche’s side secured a double over his former team, courtesy of Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s unconventional goal during first-half stoppage time.
Despite the lack of clear-cut chances in an otherwise uneventful game, the hosts emerged victorious, much to Dyche’s satisfaction.
“It’s both an important and welcome result,” Dyche commented after the match. “We deliberately tried to make the game as awkward and ugly as possible to secure an ugly win, and it worked.”
The strategy involved posing early questions to Everton’s defense by playing long and strong, aiming to disrupt their rhythm and force errors.
“We gave the ball away too cheaply, but there’s a nervousness when you’ve been on a run like this, and this now stops the storyline,” Dyche remarked. “But it’s important we build on that. A winning mentality is important, and I think it was on show to make sure we found a win.”
The winning goal for Everton came in peculiar circumstances, with Calvert-Lewin’s block from Arijanet Muric’s attempted pass looping over the Burnley goalkeeper and into the net.
“All of a sudden he’s two in two,” Dyche noted. “He’s pressed well and he’s put his foot across the keeper. Sometimes they don’t bounce in, sometimes they do.”
Despite failing to kill off the game earlier, Dyche emphasized their dominance, limiting Everton to just one shot on target.
“The game should have been killed off, but we didn’t, and it always makes you wonder,” Dyche admitted. “You’re nervous, but the facts are the facts; they only had one shot on target, which shows we dominated the game—not with the ball, but without the ball.”
Dyche praised his team’s resilience and determination, highlighting their commitment to the game plan and their collective effort to secure the win.
“Even before our goal, we weren’t far away,” he observed. “We weren’t fluid or anything, but we knew that. The biggest thing for me was to believe in what we were doing, and I thought they did. They stuck at it and kept asking questions. They’ve put in a proper shift to ensure we won.”