da dobrowin： Everton are through to the Carabao Cup Quarter-Finals after thrashing West Ham United on Wednesday night, but the performance of one player in particular meant Carlo Ancelotti was right to hail them as the best in their position.
da spicy bet： The Toffees stormed out of the blocks as Dominic Calvert-Lewin broke the deadlock in the 11th-minute after an excellent chipped pass from Michael Keane, and dealt further misery to David Moyes’ men with two goals in six minutes late in the second-half to rubbish any hopes of a comeback.
It is by far the best start to a season Calvert-Lewin has ever had with Everton, with the striker now boasting eight goals across all competitions – a tally only bettered by his 15 scored through the entire 2019/20 season.
Calvert-Lewin’s development as the Toffees’ leading striker has taken leaps and bounds since the arrival of Ancelotti last year, but his performance against West Ham highlighted how the 23-year-old is becoming the Italian’s perfect number nine.
Speaking after the Hammers affair, Ancelotti could not speak any higher of Calvert-Lewin as the Toffees boss lauded his forward as the best striker in England following a performance befitting of a player who has since earned a maiden international call-up.
“He is doing a fantastic job in the moment, he is really on fire and scoring a lot of goals,” said Ancelotti, via quotes by the Daily Mail. “He’s in a very good moment. Whether he’s the best [striker in England] I don’t know, but I don’t care. For me, for us, he is.”
What made Calvert-Lewin deserve such praise was a performance that perfectly emphasised his evolution from the out-and-out target man favoured by Marco Silva to a goalscoring machine thriving under Ancelotti.
Often during Silva’s tenure, Calvert-Lewin would squander a myriad of chances before scoring as he took up central positions to flick play on to Richarlison or bring Gylfi Sigurdsson into the action. Now, his driving runs through the middle are returning the results with style and grace that would previously have gone to waste.
Calvert-Lewin’s first goal against West Ham is a prime example of the player he is becoming, having lingered over the shoulder of Declan Rice as the England international focused on Keane preparing to pass. From there, he burst away whilst watching the flight of the ball to control the weighted pass perfectly with one touch before opening his body and calmly poking home.
The 23-year-old later displayed his ever-increasing poacher’s instincts to secure his second of the night when Alex Iwobi’s shot ricocheted off the post and back into the danger zone, beating Darren Randolph to react and securing Everton’s place in the next round.
Gone are the days under Silva where Calvert-Lewin appeared shy in front of the goal and here lies the striker ‘perfect’ for Ancelotti.
AND in other news, a long-time Everton star has emerged as a transfer option for a Premier League competitor.