Leeds United kicked off their fight for survival in the Premier League in the perfect manner with a 1-0 win over Everton at Elland Road on Monday night, and it will leave David Moyes feeling gutted.
Gutted for a few reasons. The first being simply that his Everton side lost, and in the manner they did with Everton outplayed by Leeds. At half-time, Leeds had 12 attempts at goal; Everton failed to register one.
Moyes will also be gutted at the controversial awarding of Leeds’ penalty in the final 10 minutes. Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville think it is a penalty, while Alan Shearer believes it was the wrong decision.
Moyes suggested James Tarkowski needed to cut his arm off not to concede a penalty. But there is another reason that Moyes will be gutted and it is because of one Leeds star’s excellent performance.
Everton Manager David Moyes
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Gabriel Gudmundsson’s display will have Everton feeling gutted
On the left of Leeds’ defence, Gabriel Gudmundsson was excellent. The concern around losing Junior Firpo has vanished, with Sweden international Gudmundsson excellent both defensively and in attack.
Signed for a bargain fee of £10m from Lille, the defender already looks like a top bit of business with Gudmundsson also impressing in Dublin against Milan. Leeds look like they have signed a real player.
Gabriel Gudmundsson celebrates following Leeds United v Everton - Premier League
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According to the stats and FotMob’s technical analysis, Gudmundsson was the best player on the pitch with a rating of 8.1. But there was every chance that Gudmundsson could have been playing for Everton.
Earlier on in the summer and before he arrived at Leeds, Everton showed interest in Gudmundsson. But having lost out to Leeds in the race for Gudmundsson, Everton were even missing Vitalii Mykolenko.
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Gabriel Gudmundsson’s stats from Leeds United win v Everton
Moyes was forced to play midfielder James Garner on the left of the defence, completely out of position and that will have frustrated Moyes even further, to see Gudmundsson impressing in a Leeds shirt.
Gabriel Gudmundsson’s stats for Leeds against Everton:
90 minutes played, 8.1 FotMob rating (best on pitch)
XG+XA: 0.31, eight defensive contributions
Three shots, 4/5 successful dribbles, three touches in Everton box
79 touches (fourth-highest on pitch), 40/48 successful passes
Six recoveries, one tackle, two interceptions
Seven duels won, four lost, 10.5km covered
Leeds have been careful with their money this summer, spending £80m on eight players before Noah Okafor is confirmed. The arrival of the Milan star will take spending close to £100m, without a sale.
But even with Leeds keeping overspending beyond the door, Gudmundsson is a brilliant buy judging by the early signs. Even Anton Stach has a Brazilian-inspired nickname for the former Lille defender.