Abdoulaye Doucoure was one of the stars of the show as Everton beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 on Saturday with a near-perfect display whilst pulling double-duty in the absence of Allan.
Carlo Ancelotti tackled the Goodison Park affair without Brazilian Allan holding down the defensive duties in midfield, with the former SSC Napoli ace sidelined with a groin injury sustained in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over West Ham United.
Yet the 29-year-old’s absence passed by without a blip as Doucoure displayed all the hallmarks of the perfect box-to-box enforcer that Everton splashed £20million to sign, just a year on from Watford rejecting offers worth £30m under the instructions of Marco Silva.
Saturday’s clash with Brighton marked Doucoure’s fifth appearance for Everton across all competitions, having started all available Premier League games to date and having entered the action from the bench to replace Allan midway through the second-half against West Ham.
His efforts to hinder Graham Potter’s Albion have rightly received a myriad of plaudits, with the Liverpool Echo lauding the Frenchman for being “absolutely everywhere”.
“He was absolutely everywhere for Everton this afternoon,” Adam Jones noted. “Whether it was covering at right-back following a marauding [Seamus] Coleman run or breaking into the box to allow James Rodriguez a chance to score, this was a brilliant display from the summer signing.”
Doucoure’s heatmap from the match shows the 5 ft 11 enforcer focusing his efforts to the right-hand of Ancelotti’s three-man midfield as tasked, but also drifting around each half of the pitch to aid his teammates wherever needed with gleeful ease.
Per SofaScore, retaining and winning the ball also came easy to Doucoure as he snatched possession with two interceptions, a tackle and blocked one shot while misplacing just four of his 56 passes and winning three of seven ground duels.
Ancelotti also bore witness to Doucoure creating a big chance to score from one of his three key balls on Saturday, which led to Rodriguez bagging his brace for a first assist of the season.
With Doucoure as comfortable in possession and with his back to goal as ever, Allan’s absence swiftly turned into a forgotten thought that will instil great confidence in Ancelotti and the midfielder’s display would have delighted a packed Goodison Park had fans been allowed in.
AND in other news, Everton are planning to part ways with a multi-million-pound signing who scored four times last season.