Southampton 1-2 Everton: Toffees come from behind to seal second straight win
By Tom Gott
Frank Lampard's Everton made it two wins on the bounce with a 2-1 victory over Southampton at St Mary's on Saturday.
After a dull first half, all three goals came inside nine second-half minutes, with Joe Aribo opening the scoring for the hosts before Dwight McNeil and Conor Coady found the back of the net to seal the victory.
Everton started positively and Demarai Gray fired over inside the first ten minutes, after which Southampton woke up and started to grow into the game.
Gray remained the game's biggest threat, causing significant problems with his balls into the box and direct running, but he found himself lacking in the final third a little too often.
That summed up the whole first half really. Gray and Everton were clearly on top but lacked that je ne sais quoi needed to get themselves ahead, and the most exciting part of the first half was the fact Southampton had five double-barrelled surnames in their starting lineup.
That profligacy was punished just three minutes into the second half. Che Adams found Aribo on the edge of the box and the summer signing made no mistake as he drilled his strike past Jordan Pickford and into the back of the net.
Fans had only just caught their breath by the time Everton levelled things up. Danger-man Gray sent a free-kick into the box and headed back by Amadou Onana, where Coady was waiting to tap home.
And then all of a sudden, Everton found themselves ahead as McNeil powered home his first goal in 56 games. Three goals inside nine minutes to start the second half. Not bad.
The chaos finally calmed down for around ten minutes or so as Southampton began to fight their way back into the game, and Adams should've tested Pickford with a volley than he ended up sending well wide.
Everton should have killed things off through Neal Maupay, who blazed his effort over with 20 minutes to go, before Southampton went straight down the other end and drew an outstanding save from Pickford.
Adam Armstrong's powerful strike looked destined for the back of the net but the Everton stopper flung himself to his near post to turn the ball behind.
Southampton pushed and pushed for an equaliser and they should have found one through Duje Caleta-Car, who wasted a ball from James Ward-Prowse as he sent his effort flying over the bar with what was effectively the final kick of the game.