Many Everton fans have been lauding Dominic Calvert-Lewin for his role in Carlo Ancelotti beginning his Goodison Park tenure with a win over Burnley.
Calvert-Lewin found the back of the net for his sixth goal of the Premier League season in the 80th-minute of the Boxing Day encounter, wonderfully connecting with a Djibril Sidibe cross to nod home the would-be match-winning effort with a diving header.
Ancelotti fielded the 22-year-old centre-forward in his first Toffees starting line-up alongside Richarlison at the forefront of a fluid 3-4-1-2, supported by Bernard.
No player for either side attempted more shots on Thursday afternoon than Calvert-Lewin, whose six efforts on Nick Pope’s goal was double that of second-most man Yerry Mina and treble that of the clutch of players who produced two shots, per WhoScored data.
Calvert-Lewin only managed to guide two of his six shots on target, though his vital contribution to the result saw hordes of supporters laud his game on social media.
How would you describe DCL's performance vs Burnley?
Man of the Match
Key to the result
Room for improvment
His strike ten minutes from time also saw fans overlook Calvert-Lewin failing to win 69% of his 13 aerial duels, failing to complete any dribbles or play a single key ball from his 11 of 15 accurate passes.
The £20,000-per-week forward lost possession on eleven occasions, as well as committing two fouls, per Sofa Score statistics, and really should have done more with his first-half chances as he squandered opportunities to open the scoring.
Here are some of the messages shared from fans who lauded Calvert-Lewin’s performance on Boxing Day…
Hard work pays off! Get in DCL!
— Vice City Evertonians (@ViceCityEFC) December 26, 2019
Dominic. Calvert. Lewin. Remember the name. DCL puts Everton up 1-0 with a tremendous diving header! #EVEBUR #COYB
— Ohio Toffees ⚽ (@Ohio_Toffees) December 26, 2019
DCL being the striker we needed all along. Big future.#EVEBUR #EFC
— Paul Corrigan (@TheMagicMullet) December 26, 2019
DCL under Don Carlo pic.twitter.com/Tg0RUiqLtR
— COYB (@EFC18786) December 26, 2019
— Stefan Springhetti (@Springs128) December 26, 2019
Fantastic cross from Sidibe and a lovely header from DCL. Get in! #EFC
— Gregor Allan (@gregorallan9) December 26, 2019
And Dominic Calvert Lewin “the championship” striker scores again eh?
— RyanEFC (@RyanEFC3) December 26, 2019
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – he’s really not very good is he 😉 #EVEBUR #coyb
— Marlon Cole (@moushu) December 26, 2019
In other Everton news, the club have made inquiries into signing a €30m striker in January.