Everton recovered from a goal down to defeat Coventry City 3-1 in the Premier League on Friday night, with Thierno Barry scoring twice in five minutes to turn the match at Goodison Park. Coventry had taken the lead through Gboho, but Barry's quickfire double and a late Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall strike gave David Moyes' side a third win in a week. According to BBC, the result left Coventry frustrated after three VAR decisions went against them.
Why it matters
The win extends an impressive run for Everton, who have now won three games in seven days, and it lifts Barry into rare scoring company. According to BBC, only Erling Haaland has more goals in all competitions among Premier League players this season, with the Everton forward having scored ten in 13 games — already more than the eight he managed across 41 appearances last term.
For Coventry, the defeat deepens a difficult start. BBC reports that the club have lost seven of their first ten league games for only the third time in their history, matching their opening seasons in the Football League in 1919-20 and 1920-21.
Barry takes centre stage
Barry's brace arrived within five minutes and swung the game after Coventry had gone ahead. BBC reports that his tally of six Premier League goals this season places him behind only Romelu Lukaku, who had seven in 2016-17, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin among Everton players at the same stage of a campaign.
Dewsbury-Hall, speaking to Sky Sports, said Barry had returned from the summer a changed player. "He's come back from the summer like a different player, and all credit to him because without him tonight — to kick-started us into the gear — we probably don't win the game," he said.
The midfielder also spoke about his own form and his disappointment at missing out on the England squad. "It was a disappointing morning, I'm not going to lie. It's a massive dream to play for my country. I know I was close," he told Sky Sports, adding that he would keep pushing for a call-up.
Lampard questions VAR calls
Coventry manager Frank Lampard told BBC Match of the Day that his side had produced plenty of good play and that major decisions shaped the outcome. He pointed to a hair pull by James Tarkowski on Caleb Yirenkyi, contact on Taiwo Awoniyi on the edge of the box that he believed should have been a penalty, and Everton's second goal, which he said came off a player's hand.
"If you're going to check the angles, there is an angle where it flicks in off his hand. VAR looked at it and decided not. The last touch to score is off the hand, in my opinion," Lampard said. He acknowledged the difficulty of the hair-pull call, describing it as "an in-between kind of hair pull," but said he disagreed with the decisions after seeing a conclusive angle.
Former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp, working as a pundit for Sky Sports, agreed that Everton had fortune on their side. He said the Tarkowski incident and the Awoniyi challenge should both have resulted in penalties, and that VAR had dismissed them too quickly. "That might have changed the whole complexion of the game but it didn't and Everton got the points," he said.
Moyes makes history with young line-up
BBC notes that the match was Moyes' 764th in the Premier League as a manager, and only the second time he had named three players under 21 in his starting XI — Dibling, George and Armstrong. The previous occasion was in February 2009 during his first spell at Everton, against Newcastle.
The comeback also had statistical significance. BBC reports it was just the third time Everton had trailed 1-0 in the second half of a Premier League game and gone on to win by more than one goal, following 3-1 victories over West Ham in November 2008 and Burnley in September 2021.
Dewsbury-Hall credited the team's mentality for the turnaround. "Every time we have gone down this season, we have reacted in a positive manner. Today it was almost like their goal kicked us into gear," he told Sky Sports. "We were fantastic for the last 30 minutes. They couldn't deal with it."
Everton's use of English players was also highlighted by BBC, which reported that the club have handed 75 starts to English players this season — the most by any team in the first ten games of a Premier League campaign since Burnley in 2021-22, and Everton's highest since 1994-95. Moyes is the first non-English manager to oversee such a figure since Martin O'Neill with Leicester in 1996-97.
Coventry will look to respond in their next league fixture, while Everton aim to carry their winning momentum forward.
