Sean Dyche has hailed a great performance from his team and the vociferous Goodison Park support for this evening’s stunning Merseyside derby win that sent shockwaves through the title race and took Everton to the brink of top-flight survival.
A season that has been wracked by unending uncertainty around the future ownership of the Club, two points deductions, and a Club-record winless run in the Premier League era has featured few highlights but on a pulsating evening under the lights, the Blues defied the odds and delivered a result for the ages
Goals in either half from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the latter described by Dyche as “outstanding” but both imperious on the night like a number of Everton players, condemned Liverpool to a 2-0 defeat that pushed the Toffees eight points clear of the bottom three with four games to play and might well have ended Jürgen Klopp’s dream of signing off as the reds’ manager with the Championship.
Given the wildly differing resources, quality and fortunes of the two teams, it was a wholly unexpected result that completed the complete turnaround by Dyche’s men from that horrendous 6-0 defeat to Chelsea nine days ago. In between, a competent 2-0 win over their rivals to avoid relegation, Nottingham Forest, represented a huge step towards safety but this massive derby victory virtually completed the job.
“To give the people that, it’s pleasing for all of us,” Dyche said afterwards. “A few weeks ago, people were saying: ‘Do they care?’ They care. We care. There are no two ways about that, and I think we made that clear as a collective.
“Another clean sheet, as well, so I’m pleased with that. A couple of really big saves from Jordan. We get a little bit lucky with the one that hits the inside of the post, but we’ve created enough chances ourselves.
“The energy of the side, the commitment to the cause, and the shape were all in place, and they have to when you play some of these sides. I thought the general performance was very good, and the reward is a big result against our local rivals.
“I said it was a game for the people,” the manager continued. “I don’t understand the depth of these derbies because I’m not from here, but I’m learning quickly about what it’s like, and that one is for the people, and certainly one for the Evertonians, without a shadow of a doubt.
“The Toffees, I asked them to rise, and they are doing that. Their voice was incredible. The noise was incredible, and the reaction to the performance was incredible, so we’re very pleased with that.
“[The fans] have been brilliant. Obviously, we got heavily questioned after the result at Chelsea, and rightly so. We all hold our hands up, but all I asked was to keep their noses pointing in the right direction – all of us, and they have done.
“They stood by us on Sunday, and we rewarded that with a good performance and a win. They stood by us again tonight and made it such an awkward place for Liverpool to come.”