Abdoulaye Doucouré, Everton's saviour

At Everton, Abdoulaye Doucouré made thousands of people happy on Sunday 28 May. The Mali midfielder scored Everton's only goal in the Blues' 1-0 win over Bournemouth. And Cherries on the cake, the former Rennes player helped the Toffees (17th) stay in the Premier League for a 70th consecutive season. A relief for a man who signed a contract extension this week. His manager Sean Dyche was not mistaken in his judgement, though he allowed himself a touch of humour.

"'Doucs' (Doucouré, editor's note...) has been a shining light in that respect and he scores a stunning goal. Maybe he mis-hit it," Dyche told the English press after the match. The English manager can also afford to tease the Mali international. After all, he is the one who revived him after Abdoulaye Doucouré had been left out in the cold by Frank Lampard in the first half of the season. Put simply, from August 2022 to January 2023, Everton's number 16 had started only two Premier League games. Those were in the 1st round of fixtures against Chelsea and the 2nd against Aston Villa. After that, he had to make do with 8 appearances off the bench. Suffice to say the 30-year-old player was in a complete rut. Left out in the cold by Frank Lampard, Abdoulaye Doucouré was brought back into the fold by Sean Dyche. And he was not wrong. The Mali player helped him pick up important points, including those on Sunday.

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The man of the run-in

But that was then. Sean Dyche's arrival completely reshuffled the pack. Abdoulaye Doucouré regained his place in the starting line-up. Between 04 February and 03 April, the Mali player strung together 9 starts before serving a 3-match suspension after his red card at Tottenham. Once his ban was served, the midfielder returned to the pitch and started the 6 remaining league games, without once being substituted. Indeed, of his 15 Premier League matches under Sean Dyche, Doucouré has been taken off only once. That was on 1 March against Arsenal (a 0-4 defeat). The only other time he did not finish a game was when he was sent off against Spurs on 03 April.

Trust given, trust repaid. Abdoulaye Doucouré has indeed contributed hugely to Everton's survival. Between 05 March and Sunday, the number 16 scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists. Scoring against Nottingham Forest (2-2), assisting against Brentford (1-0), then scoring and assisting against Chelsea in March (2-2), and finally scoring against Bournemouth (1-0), he helped his side take 8 points from those 4 games. Proof that without him, the Toffees would have been playing in the Championship for the first time in 70 years.