ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Alex Iwobi shone like a million stars as Everton played out a 1-1 draw against Burnley in Saturday’s Premier League game and his performance impressed manager Carlo Ancelotti.
In the absence of the injured Seamus Coleman, Iwobi was selected to play as a right wing-back for the second consecutive match and must have impressed Ancelotti, considering the fact that he lasted ninety minutes on the pitch.
Indeed, the experienced Italian football tactician admitted that he was pretty impressed with the performance of the Nigeria international when he spoke to the media after the game.
The 24-year-old Nigerian international was handed his fourth league start and delivered an eye-catching performance in the cracker.
The versatile attacker starred in a wing-back role, pairing Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina in defence.
Iwobi hit the ground running in the encounter and came close to helping the Toffees open the scoring as early as the second minute.
He attempted to send in a dangerous cross but was blocked before Burnley capitalized on a defensive blunder from Allan to score the first goal of the game.
Robert Brady beat goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after receiving a beautiful assist from Ashley Westwood to put his side in the lead in the third minute of the game.
Everton, however, levelled proceedings shortly before the half-time break through Dominic Calvert-Lewin after he was set up by Richarlison.
Several attempts from both sides to score the decisive goal proved futile as they settled for a share of the points in the encounter.
Iwobi was one of the stand-out performers in the match had 86 touches on the ball, made 57 passes and completed two key passes in the games during his 90 minutes of action.
The 24-year-old also completed one dribble and made seven crosses to ensure the Toffees avoided their second consecutive defeat.
Iwobi has now made 11 appearances across all competition for Everton this season, scoring one goal and providing two assists.
The draw was enough to help Everton move up one place on the Premier League table after gathering 17 points from 11 games.
Iwobi will be expected to feature when the Toffees take on Chelsea in their next league game on December 12.