I know it was only a 10-minute cameo but Armando Broja looked lively on his Everton debut. I’ve questioned Sean Dyche’s substitutions in the past but it looks like he might have a lot of options in the next few games up front.
He’ll have to decide whether he wants to put Broja straight down the middle or alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin or whoever plays up front as an additional option. It was good to see a striker kicking the ball out of his feet and having a little run.
Yes, Everton were 4-0 up and it was a tired Wolves defence, but he knew what he wanted to do. It could help inspire other options in the squad who will want to play their way into Dyche’s thinking over the busy festive period, to keep competition going.
We know we’ve got a difficult month and no matter who you’re playing in December, it’s always back-to-back fixtures and it will be physically and mentally demanding. We’ve got to keep concentrating and we’ve got to keep communicating with a tough trip to Arsenal coming up.
Everyone in the Premier League this season seems to be very competitive. They can all take points off each other.
Yes, we haven’t got the best record at the Emirates Stadium, but I thought we did pretty well there last time out on the final game of the season, until the end. They’re only another 11 humans on the football pitch, and you’ve got to try and force errors.
Arsenal have got a bit of a difference to their side this season. For a long time now, you’ve known with Arsenal if the weather is perfect and conditions are right, then they’ll play fantastic football and cut through teams, but now they seem a bit more resolute and they’re very dangerous on set-pieces.
We’ve been a bit naive at times ourselves when it comes to defending dead ball situations. It’s going to be a bit of a battle of wits and a difficult game going down there but if our boys can stick together and try and force the issue, it’s Arsenal who have got the pressure on them to push for the title and get a result, so hopefully than could play into our hands.
When you look at the league table, there’s now a little bit of breathing space with some of the teams below us dropping points.
We still need to show more pride in our passing though. Even in the Wolves game, we were very sloppy in possession at times and we need to cut out these unforced errors.