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Within seconds of kick-off, Anthony Gordon crunched into a tackle that reflected the demanding mood of the Goodison Park crowd. The Everton fan recognised the desperate need for a win against Chelsea to ease the club\u2019s growing relegation concerns and created an atmosphere that set the tone for the players on the pitch. Gordon delivered.<\/p>\n
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Of course, the 21-year-old\u2019s performance was about much more than just crunching tackles and physicality. Indeed, Gordon gave Everton an outlet in attack with the winger willing and able to carry the ball up the pitch and relieve pressure. Without the youngster, the Toffees could have found the pressure applied by Chelsea too much.<\/p>\n
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This season has been a painful one for Everton. First, they appointed former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez against the wishes of the supporters, then sacked the Spaniard in January after he\u2019d cleared out much of the club\u2019s football department and sold one of the Toffees\u2019 best players (Lucas Digne).<\/p>\n
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Lampard arrived, but results didn\u2019t improve. In fact, Everton soon found themselves embroiled in a fight against relegation with April\u2019s Merseyside derby defeat to Liverpool dropping them into the bottom three. At that point, with Burnley and Leeds United picking up results, the Toffees appeared to be heading for the Championship.<\/p>\n
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A crucial victory over Chelsea at the beginning of the month could, however, be a turning point in Everton\u2019s season. Lampard has adopted a more compact approach with attack-minded players like Gordon emboldened to attack the space left in the opposition half. This is what the 21-year-old did to great effect against Thomas Tuchel\u2019s visitors. Everton will need Gordon to replicate this sort of display if they are to stay up.<\/p>\n
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Gordon\u2019s emergence as a first team figure has been a highlight in an otherwise dark season for Everton. The youngster is held in such a high esteem at Goodison Park that Lampard has already made predictions regarding his international future. In this form, Gordon – an England Under-21 international – is surely on Gareth Southgate\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe is growing all the time and we saw that – going and playing against one of the best teams in the world, standing up and going past people and showing energy and quality and dedication,\u201d Lampard said. \u201cThe next bit for Anthony is the end product of goals and assists, and he is desperate for it. It will come for him, he needs to stay cool with that, because every day he works on it, he does the right things. He is going to be a huge player for us and a huge player for his country.\u201d<\/p>\n
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At this rate, Gordon will be an outside bet to make England\u2019s squad for the 2022 World Cup. Southgate isn\u2019t exactly short of options on the wing, but Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were both left out of his latest squad due to poor form. The field could be wide open for Gordon to make his case.<\/p>\n
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Of course, Southgate must be wary of rushing Gordon into the senior squad before he is ready, but the England manager has previously been keen to use pathway between the U21 team and the first team. Gordon\u2019s promotion would be proof to other youngsters that Southgate is always willing to reward talent.<\/p>\n
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Ordinarily, it would be too late for Gordon to force his way into the England squad for a major tournament with it being close to the end of the season, but the 2022 World Cup doesn\u2019t kick off until November. It\u2019s not beyond the realms of possibility that the Everton winger could be picked by Southgate. According to Lampard, Gordon will be an England player sooner or later. On recent evidence, it could be sooner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Within seconds of kick-off, Anthony Gordon crunched into a tackle that reflected the demanding mood of the Goodison Park crowd. The Everton fan recognised the desperate need for a win against Chelsea to ease the club\u2019s growing relegation concerns and created an atmosphere that set the tone for the players on the pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[166,254,272,345,174,76,1179],"class_list":["post-49625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-england","tag-everton","tag-featurehome","tag-gareth-southgate","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-world-cup-2022"],"yoast_head":"\n