Iliman Ndiaye had an instant impact in his first start since February against Arsenal at Goodison Park on Saturday. The Senegalese winger converted from 12 yards to hand the Blues an important point following a 1-1 draw with the second-placed side in the league.
Signed for £15million from French outfit Olympique Marseille last summer, Ndiaye has quickly become a fan favourite and is the top-scorer for the side across all competitions. However, despite his brilliance, the 25-year-old said that he’s not fully pleased with his output and identified room for improvement.
“I’m not fully pleased. I feel I can contribute more assists,” Ndiaye said after the game against Arsenal.
“Everyone in the team is bringing what they can do for the team. For me, that’s my dribbling, trying to score goals, trying to assist. Everyone else brings their bit too.
“I want more (assists), yeah, of course! I want to try and help the team win games. That’s not just going to come from me scoring, it’s going to come from me providing assists for my teammates. So maybe that’s what I probably need to improve on.”
The Senegalese winger recently returned to fitness following a knee injury and came off the bench in the 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Although Everton went on a nine-match unbeaten run before the Merseyside derby, Ndiaye’s seven-week absence led to a lack of creativity and inspiration in the final third of the pitch.
While he’s happy to be the team’s outright top-scorer, the Senegalese winger is aiming for double digits. He has achieved those numbers only once in his career while playing as a centre-forward for Sheffield United in 2022/23, when 14 of his 15 strikes came in the Championship.
The Blues haven’t had a player get into double digits since Richarlison scored 11 goals in 2021/22 ahead of his departure to Spurs.
April is set to be an interesting month for Everton who took on the top two sides Liverpool and Arsenal with a short turnaround time of less than 72 hours. They only conceded a single goal to the champions-elect and held second-placed Arsenal to a 1-1 draw.
The Toffees are also set to take on Manchester City and Chelsea this month but before those fixtures, they are set to visit third-placed Nottingham Forest. It is going to be an intriguing run of fixtures for Everton and Ndiaye is looking forward to the challenge.
“I think we have a good chance against big teams. I think we’ve seen it when we’ve played some of the teams away, getting draws, but now it’s just about getting the win, finding a way to score more goals against these teams.
“They don’t get many chances against us, maybe they get one chance or two and they take it. It’s up to us to take our big chances and try and win the game.”