Bernard: More goals to come

Over the last few weeks Everton winger Bernard has been playing in a manner that is well above his diminutive stature on the pitch. In fact, it was quite a surprise that the Brazilian was yet to score his first Premier League goal before this last weekend against West Ham United, an unfortunate statistic that he was quite relieved to remedy.

Speaking after his Man of the Match act in the London Stadium, Bernard said -

“I think I have played some good matches for Everton but, especially because I scored, I think it was my best match.

“It was a very happy moment for me. Scoring is very important for a forward. The first one is always the toughest. It was the same for me when I played for Atletico.

“It took a little while [to open my account] but after the first goal went in, a lot of goals came. Now I can be more calm and it is going to be natural for more goals to come.”

Everton were dominant against their London rivals, who stood a chance of going into seventh place with a win. However, the Blues were relentless right from kickoff and once they took an early lead from Kurt Zouma’s header, there was no way back into the game for the hosts.

“To beat West Ham here is not easy, so I am very happy with everything that happened.

“They are always good playing at their own stadium. It helps us in the table, too, and will give us more confidence for the next match.

“It was a very a happy day for me. I scored a goal and it was a brilliant victory.”

The one piece that has been missing from Bernard’s game so far has been the goalscoring aspect, with the winger missing a number of chances before last weekend. But now that the first goal is out of the way, Blues will be hoping that the floodgates are now open as the Toffees attempt to better last season’s eighth place finish.