Séamus Coleman answers critics with key goal for Everton

Ayoze Perez earns Newcastle a first win; Felipe Anderson double delivers West Ham win

Séamus Coleman celebrates scoring  Everton’s  second goal during the Premier League match against  Brighton at Goodison Park. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Séamus Coleman celebrates scoring Everton’s second goal during the Premier League match against Brighton at Goodison Park. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Everton 3 Brighton 1

Everton defender Séamus Coleman definitively answered his critics with the decisive second in a 3-1 win over Brighton which saw Richarlison score twice.

The Republic of Ireland defender, who missed 10 months with an horrific double break of his leg in March 2017, registered his first goal for 652 days.

Rarely outspoken, the Everton stand-in captain’s hands-to-ears celebration in front of the Gwladys Street End told you all you needed to know about his opinion of those who had questioned him.

READ MORE

Coleman struck after Lewis Dunk’s header had cancelled out Richarlison’s fifth of the season midway through the first half, although the Brazil international had the final say when he capitalised on Dunk’s 77th-minute error to end Brighton’s mini-resurgence.

Watford goalkeeper  Ben Foster is beaten by the shot of Ayoze Perez of Newcastle United during the  Premier League match at St James’ Park. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster is beaten by the shot of Ayoze Perez of Newcastle United during the Premier League match at St James’ Park. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Newcastle 1 Watford 0

Ayoze Perez headed Newcastle to their first Premier League win of the season at the 11th attempt as Watford were made to pay for missed opportunities.

Perez glanced fellow substitute Ki Sung-yueng's driven 65th-minute free-kick home to claim a priceless 1-0 victory at the end of another testing week for Rafael Benitez and his players.

Benitez had backed skipper Jamaal Lascelles's call for a united front in the run-up to the game, and he certainly got it as a team which lost Yoshinori Muto, Lascelles and Jonjo Shelvey to injury inside six minutes either side of half-time scrapped its way to the finishing line in front of a vociferous crowd of 49,157.

But the Hornets left Tyneside wondering just how they were doing so empty-handed after Gerard Deulofeu and substitute Stefan Okaka spurned gilt-edged opportunities and Roberto Pereyra rattled the crossbar.

West Ham’s Felipe Anderson scores his side’s third goal in the Premier league game against Burnley. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
West Ham’s Felipe Anderson scores his side’s third goal in the Premier league game against Burnley. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

West Ham 4 Burnley 2

Felipe Anderson at last began to justify his record price tag by firing West Ham to a 4-2 victory over Burnley.

The Brazilian playmaker was in grave danger of being branded a £42 million flop following some anonymous displays since his summer switch from Lazio.

Even Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini admitted this week that Anderson's performances needed to improve – and it seems he was listening as two well-taken goals secured a deserved win for the Hammers.

It was far from plain sailing for the hosts, though, after they were twice pegged back by goals from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Chris Wood.

Marko Arnautovic had opened the scoring but, despite a dominant display, they were never assured of the points until Javier Hernandez struck the fourth in stoppage time.