Huddersfield 0-1 Everton: Richarlison strikes as Jan Siewert makes losing start

Jan Siewert made a losing start to his tenure as Huddersfield head coach as Richarlison's third-minute strike was enough to secure a much-needed 1-0 win for 10-man Everton at the John Smith's Stadium.

Tom Davies set up the Brazilian for the only goal of a cagey affair in West Yorkshire as Everton moved up to eighth in the Premier League to ease the pressure on manager Marco Silva.

They were made to sweat on the result in the final 24 minutes as Lucas Digne was sent off for a professional foul on Adama Diakhaby, but Everton held on to just a third away win of the season.

It is now 11 defeats in 12 games for Huddersfield, four games without a goal in all competitions, and the side are 11 points off 17th-placed Southampton with a significantly worse goal difference.

Everton boss Silva made five changes to the side that were embarrassed by Millwall in the FA Cup last weekend, but in the absence of Paris Saint-Germain target Idrissa Gueye they made the perfect start.

From a throw-in, Davies followed his pass to be slipped down the right by Bernard, and the young Englishman crossed for Richarlison to score at the second attempt after Jonas Lossl had kept his initial effort out.

Huddersfield struggled to carve out any opportunities of note with Everton playing a higher line to minimise their threat from set pieces, and it was not until the 45th minute that the hosts had a shot as Steve Mounie dragged his effort from distance wide of Jordan Pickford's left-hand post.

Digne had been on the pitch for just 11 minutes, replacing the injured captain Leighton Baines, when he was forced to cynically haul down Diakhaby, leaving referee Stuart Attwell with no option but to dismiss the Frenchman.

From the resulting free-kick, Aaron Mooy, on his return to the side as a fellow second-half substitute after a seven-week absence, forced Jordan Pickford into a brilliant save down to his right.

The England No 1 had to be alert once more to deny Elias Kachunga as he tipped the forward's header from Diakhaby's cross to safety - and Everton's defence withstood a late onslaught to bring much-needed respite for Silva.

Opta stats

• Huddersfield are winless in their last 11 meetings with Everton in all competitions (D5 L6), since a 1-0 win in a top-flight match in March 1956.
• Everton have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five top-flight meetings with Huddersfield.
• Everton are unbeaten in their last 14 away Premier League games against sides starting the day bottom of the table (W7 D7), since a 1-2 defeat against Wolves in May 2004.
• Huddersfield have failed to score in 50 per cent of their home Premier League games (16/32) - the highest percentage in the competition's history.
• Lucas Digne's red card was Everton's third sending off of the season in the Premier League - only Leicester (4) have seen more players sent off in the competition in 2018/19.
• Richarlison has scored 11 goals in all competitions for Everton this season, the same tally as Everton's top goalscorer in all competitions in 2017-18 (Wayne Rooney, also 11).
• Richarlison's opener for Everton after just two minutes and nine seconds was the earliest Premier League goal Huddersfield have conceded and the earliest in a league game since May 2016 (Sergi Canos after 20 seconds for Brentford in the Championship).

The managers

Jan Siewert: "I'm disappointed but I'm proud. We had several chances and we couldn't have had a worse start.

"But we developed our game, and that's what I'm really proud of as we've only had seven days to work together.

"Today I'm disappointed because I saw why [Jordan] Pickford is England's No 1 goalkeeper. He made some incredible saves from Mooy and also from Kachunga."

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Marco Silva: "It's an important result for us. When you win away it's always important but it wasn't a fantastic performance. Sometimes you have to win games with character and personality.

"Twenty-five minutes with 10 players is always tough, and we've achieved three points that our players deserve.

"After the red card, we had to be more compact, and we did that. They had one direct free-kick and one header but they didn't have any other chances to equalise. For that we deserved the three points."

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Man of the match - Michael Keane

After being on the receiving end of a chastening experience in hostile conditions against Millwall, a trip to face an inevitable aerial bombardment from Huddersfield was always likely to prove a stiff mental test for Keane, especially after Digne's sending off.

But the centre-back produced a commanding display to minimise the threat of Steve Mounie, taking control of a fragile back line to protect Everton's obvious weakness this season with a high line on defensive set pieces.

Silva appears to still be figuring out what his preferred option is at centre-half, but it increasingly looks like being one of either Kurt Zouma or Yerry Mina alongside Keane after a second clean sheet in three Premier League games.

What's next?

Huddersfield travel to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday while Everton host Wolves at Goodison Park, with both games kicking off at 3pm.

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