Sean Dyche just transformed two players and unleashed strongest Everton weapon

Everton’s supporters were in desperate need of a sign their club’s Premier League survival was on more than just life support. Against Arsenal they got it.

Facing the Premier League leaders and under a new figurehead in Sean Dyche this side rallied to the cries of Goodison Park and offered hope. The dawn of the Dyche era began with fight, intensity, spirit, determination and, crucially, a 1-0 victory. It was not just a win either, it was a deserved one.

An Arsenal side that has swept aside so much of what has come before it was instead picked up on a tide of first half momentum and almost carried away by this new Everton. In the second half frantic determination made way for a biting, aggressive and assertive passion that had Goodison, sent rocking by James Tarkowski’s first goal in Blue, at its fiercest best. Earlier this week, in his first interview in his new post, Dyche said there was still a fire in L4 and it was his job to ignite it. In his first game he lit a raging furnace.

MATCH RECAP: Everton vs Arsenal as it happened plus full coverage of fan protests

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January was the worst of months. No-one wants a recap. But the shambolic failure to strengthen a struggling squad in one of the most important transfer windows in the club’s history only served to add to the image of an institution incapable of helping itself. On another day when the board of directors were not present and when demonstrations against the wider management of the club highlighted the rift between Everton and its fans off the pitch, Arsenal were always likely to be tough opposition on it. What Everton fans needed from Dyche was a performance that suggested the club’s top flight survival might be down to more than simply hoping three rivals fail harder. They got that and more.

There was no clearer evidence of the attitude shift than the performance of Vitalii Mykolenko. One of several players who struggled in the final days of Frank Lampard’s reign, on Saturday afternoon he made three big tackles in the first six minutes, the best a sliding effort to dispossess the mesmeric Bukayo Saka having tracked his run inside from the left. In the second half, as Saka burst into the Everton half with options ahead of him, Mykolenko was booked for a cynical tackle that displayed the type of wiliness missing as Everton slumped to defeat after defeat to defeat. Dwight McNeil, another player whose impact since the World Cup break has been negligible, looked a different player on the left of a five man midfield as he gave Ben White a torrid time.

Around the half hour mark there were fans on their feet to applaud the effort of Dominic Calvert-Lewin as he fought off two centre backs to retain possession while Abdoulaye Doucoure had the stands roaring with approval as he fought off a desperate Thomas Partey. Questions over where this fight was under Lampard are legitimate but not for today. Not for now.

As a result of that spirit the home side were cheered off at a break they entered goalless but in which they should have been ahead. The excellent Amadou Onana, who took to social media this week to declare his desire to fight on Merseyside amid speculation linking him to others, including Arsenal, beat Martin Odegaard as he ran the length of the Arsenal half before sending a ball across the face of goal Calvert-Lewin just could not finish. Doucoure flashed a free header wide from an Alex Iwobi cross and Calvert-Lewin flicked a near post header wide of the far post.

At the interval there was every reason for the home support to be pleased but nervous. This was an Everton side that had spent January emerging from half-time weaker facing an Arsenal team five points clear at the top. A frenetic start to the second half saw both sides have chances and when, on the hour mark, Arsenal turned to Jorginho and Leandro Trossard, there was a danger of another recurring theme of January repeating itself – that of Everton succumbing to a team that could get a boost from the millions of pounds of new talent it had on the bench. Instead, moments after Jorginho was introduced for Partey, who had just been embarrassed by Onana in the middle of the pitch, it was Everton who took the lead. Tarkowski was the strongest in the box as he met McNeil’s corner and Goodison erupted.

For the next 36 minutes the four stands created a cauldron that bubbled, simmered and exploded as those in Blue fought off Arsenal. It is no secret the home crowd is Everton’s most effective weapon in good times and bad. Dyche knew that already but experienced the benefit of it for the first time as he earned a win too important to put into words on his first time in the dugout.

Somehow, a team that ended a transfer window without any signings emerged as a different, ‘new-look’, beast on Saturday. The coming months will no doubt be tough. The reasons behind that will continue to deserve scrutiny. But, as Everton fans searched for a sign of hope, Dyche delivered.

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