http://www.evertonfc.com/fixtures/2...ier-league-2/arsenal-u23-vs-everton-u23/match
Everton Under-23s climbed to top spot in Premier League 2 with an excellent 5-0 away victory against Arsenal.
Having seen their five-match winning run ended by Sunderland last week,
David Unsworth’s team produced the perfect response by thrashing the Gunners at Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park ground.
Everton were in control as early as the fourth minute when
Kieran Dowell netted from just inside the penalty area.
The Young Blues struck four more times after the break to put the seal on a comprehensive win.
Liam Walsh’s superb free-kick made it 2-0 at the start of the second half and
Oumar Niasse tapped in to make the advantage even more convincing.
Calum Dyson, who was celebrating his 20th birthday, then impressed with a clinical cameo from the substitutes’ bench, scoring twice to round off a brilliant night’s work.
Coach Unsworth fielded a strong starting line-up, with six members of the side having played competitively for the first team, one of those being Dowell who gave the Young Blues the perfect start.
The ball was played inside from the left channel and the winger managed to squeeze a low shot from 15 yards under goalkeeper Hugo Keto and into the net.
Everton played some excellent, free-flowing football in the first half and were unlucky not to have gone into the break holding a greater advantage.
Niasse - selected to lead Everton’s forward line alongside new signing Dominic Calvert-Lewin - went close three times. The Senegal striker nodded straight at Keto, saw a powerful shot from distance fly narrowly over the crossbar and then glanced another header fractionally past the far post.
There were also a couple of opportunities for defender and captain
Jonjoe Kenny, the best of which was a crisp half-volley that was well saved by Gunners keeper Keto.
Arsenal were restricted to very little in the opening 45. Aside from a couple of dangerous crosses and a brave
Callum Connolly block, Everton comfortably dealt with the hosts’ attacking threat.
The Young Blues doubled their advantage two minutes after the restart through a brilliantly-executed free-kick from Walsh.
After
David Henen had been upended outside the box, the midfielder stepped up to whip a precise finish over the wall and into the corner, leaving stopper Keto rooted to the spot.
Everton were rampant in the second period and two became three when Niasse got the goal his hard-working performance deserved in the 68th minute - a close-range tap-in, following great combination play involving Dowell and
Gethin Jones down the right flank.
Dyson entered the action with a little over 20 minutes remaining - and he struck a quick-fire brace to complete the scoring.
The forward netted with his first-touch - a glancing near-post header - and after Calvert-Lewin had been denied by the woodwork, he hit the target again, this time hammering home a left-footed effort into the bottom corner.
It was a dominant 90-minute display from Everton, highlighting once again the amount of talent and potential locked within the Club’s flourishing youth setup.
Everton: Hewelt, Jones, Robinson, Walsh (Dyson 68), Connolly, Kenny (c), Dowell, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Niasse (Duffus 75), Henen (Charsley 58) (Subs not used: Renshaw, Duffus, Sambou)