Everton moved up to sixth in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Cardiff City.

A terse game saw Marco Silva’s side only take the lead just before the hour mark when Neil Etheridge spilled a Theo Walcott attempt into Gylfi Sigurdsson’s path.

The Icelandic international made no mistake as he fired the ball into an empty net to record his fifth goal from seven previous league games for the Blues.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Unsightly yet steely Blues make a statement

 

Marco Silva prides himself on Everton playing in the right way, but sometimes the ugliness cannot be avoided. Cardiff City’s visit was a classic case in point.

Home supporters arriving at Goodison Park on Saturday anticipating an exhibition against the Welsh side were always going to be sadly disappointed.

Neil Warnock had no intentions of waving the white flag and the hosts had to make the best of a scrappy encounter where chances were at a premium.

In previous seasons, the Blues would be lamenting two points dropped from this sort of game. Grinding out a result made a clear statement of Silva’s intent.

Lookman makes a case for Anfield start

 

Bundesliga clubs are again circling above one of Everton’s homegrown prospects.

But Ademola Lookman, a previous target of that affection, demonstrated why Silva’s desire to keep Anthony Gordon may soon have long-term benefits.

The attacker’s second-half cameo should have given the Everton manager food for thought ahead of next weekend’s Merseyside derby showdown with Liverpool.

In the final quarter of an hour or so, Lookman managed to show more signs of promise than Theo Walcott had mustered during his own 73 minutes of toil.

Evertonians have been crying out for the 21-year-old to be given a regular runout and the Anfield clash appears to be the ideal time to follow it through.

Gomes rises above the crowd

 

Sometimes, it takes a game like this to truly appreciate a player’s qualities.

Andre Gomes has been nothing short of impressive since arriving from Barcelona but took things up another level even when his teammate were largely subdued.

The Portuguese loanee shone throughout as the likes of Richarlison and Bernard struggled to break down the Cardiff defence and occasionally fluffed their lines.

Nullifying the visitors was only the tip of Gomes’ repertoire. A slaloming run past two visiting players saw him send a good ball across to Walcott at the far post.

His teammate’s finishing let him down but on an afternoon of otherwise little promise for Everton, Gomes remained a shining light.

Sigurdsson continues to raise the bar

 

Critics scoffed at Everton’s decision to pay £45 million for Gylfi Sigurdsson.

But barely 12 months on, the Icelandic international is having the last laugh.

A fifth goal from seven previous Premier League games confirmed that Sigurdsson is proving to be everything other than an expensive failure.

In a game where killer instinct was pivotal, Sigurdsson showed it in abundance to turn the ball home after Walcott’s shot was rebounded into his path.

He also knows a thing or two about scoring at Anfield, which will certianly come in handy next weekend for both Everton and keen statisticians.