An uninspired first half

Everton’s first half was reminiscent of some of their worst performances of recent years. Their play was a poor as the weather that besieged Goodsion Park and it looked as though Everton’s woes - especially at home recently - would continue.

The passing was some of the most wanting that has been seen with this Everton squad and for a few moments I wondered if Big Sam was back on the touchline. Despite a full week’s rest, the team as a whole looked disjointed and uninspired. Everton was in need of a win to break out of their month long slump and for the first 45 minutes the players looked like they couldn’t be bothered to show up, let alone play.

Luckily for Everton, AFC Bournemouth were without their leading goalscorer Callum Wilson and failed to take advantage of the struggling Toffees. It would not have been surprising if Everton had gone into the half down a couple of goals, but were able to keep things level and have a chance at points in the second half.

Lookman shines

The only Everton player who was consistently good for the 90 minutes was Ademola Lookman. The young winger has a knack for playing himself out of tight spaces and was involved in nearly all of Everton’s major scoring chances throughout the match.

As Bernard and Theo Walcott have wilted through the season, Lookman has risen to the challenge. It will be very difficult for Marco Silva to keep Lookman on the bench as he was easily Everton’s most productive player in this match.

Despite all the chances Lookman created, he looked as though he may finish the match with nothing to show for his contribution. Fortunately for the youngster, he was able to slot a beautiful pass to Dominic Calvert-Lewin that put this tense match firmly out of grasp for the visitors.

Digne continues to impress

This was certainly not Lucas Digne’s best performance with Everton. He was largely invisible in the first half, save for a cross here and there. But the French fullback showed up when it counted with a beautiful assist on the game winning goal from Kurt Zouma.

Digne, along with his teammates, may have mailed in the first half of this match, but he was his usual consistent self in the second half and was pumping cross after cross into the box. Whatever defensive deficiencies he possesses he makes up for in spades with his offensive contributions. Zouma’s goal seemed to finally get Everton out of their rut and allowed them to actually start attacking and eventually finish off this game.