Iwobi Shocking In Everton’s Drab Draw With Southampton

Nigeria's most expensive player in history failed to shine as Everton struggled to a 1-1 draw to Southampton at the Goodison Park on Thursday.  

It was yet again not the best of evenings for the Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi who has only managed one goal in 23 Premier League games for the Toffees.

Despite struggling in the 1-0 loss to Tottenham on Monday, Iwobi started again against the Saints, but it was no better than his performance versus Spurs last time out.

Iwobi was kept quiet for much of the half, but the Super Eagles star should have opened the scoring for the home side when a perfect Digne cross reached him at the far post.

The former Arsenal man took a touch and fired in hard, but goalkeeper McCarthy got strong palms to save his powerful strike.

The hosts then conceded a penalty which Southampton's Ward-Prowse smashed against the crossbar.

But the visitors deservedly took the lead when Danny Ings bundled home his 19th league goal of the campaign.

Only Jamie Vardy and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now stand in the former Liverpool man's way in the race for the golden boot.

But Everton responded with the equalizer through Brazilian striker Richarlison just before halftime.

Even Iwobi could not have been pleased with his first-half performance, and manager Carlo Ancelotti duly replaced the CAF Young Player of The Year 2015 with Djibril Sidibe before the commencement of the second half.

Iwobi's withdrawal, however, failed to change the complexion of the game, with both teams settling for a share of the points as neither could find the winning goal. 

The score draw leaves Everton and Southampton stuck on 11th and 12th on the EPL table, respectively, with one point separating the two teams.