BBC pundit Garth Crooks included Everton centre-back Kurt Zouma in his Team of the Week, after an impressive 2-0 win against West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday evening.
Writing in his regular column for the BBC, Crooks said that “West Ham were shocking” before giving credit to the Everton defence.
“I’ve criticised Everton for their poor defending this season but I found myself applauding their clean sheet at London Stadium on Saturday,” Crooks wrote.
“The Hammers could have been two goals down after 20 minutes and were lucky it wasn’t more. Meanwhile, Kurt Zouma is starting to look like a defender who can be trusted.”
OPINION
Zouma got Everton off to the best start at the London Stadium on Saturday, scoring after just five minutes in the game between two teams who both believe they should be top of the second-tier teams in the Premier League. On this evidence, it’s Marco Silva’s men who are under-performing in ninth spot. In truth, both teams have been wildly inconsistent this season, but West Ham were awful on Saturday and their season is in danger of imploding – they’re closer to the relegation spots than they are Chelsea in sixth. Zouma, on the other hand, was magnificent, and he seemed to win every ball and stop any West Ham attack dead. Everton are reportedly interested in making the deal for Zouma permanent after his loan move from Chelsea expires at the end of the season. However, that could depend on what happens with Chelsea’s transfer ban. The Times claim the west London club are considering an appeal if FIFA uphold their two-window punishment and that could lead to the ban being postponed, and make Chelsea more open to selling players. He won’t come cheap but on recent evidence he would be a very sensible purchase.