Sean Dyche has quashed suggestions of a previous fall out with Dwight McNeil and believes "familiarity" may have helped him deliver one of his best Everton performances.
The 23-year-old played a key role in the 1-0 win over Arsenal that offered Blues hope for the rest of the season. It was the club's first win in a competitive match since October and ended a run of four defeats at Goodison Park.
McNeil created the winning goal for his ex-Burnley teammate James Tarkowski - both of whom played under Dyche at Turf Moor. It was only McNeil's second assist of the season but capped a performance in which his deliveries repeatedly threatened the Arsenal box.
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Upon his appointment as Everton boss last week, Dyche laughed off questions over whether his relationship with McNeil had ended on a sour note when he was dismissed by Burnley last April. Asked about the suggestion before his first game in charge at the weekend, he said: "I’ve never fallen out with anyone, certainly not Dwighty. I gave him his debut and didn’t leave him out for over 100 games. It must have been some falling out. I didn’t fall out with anyone, just didn’t win enough games."
Dyche had been in charge at Burnley for a decade when he parted ways with the club as it sought to avoid relegation from the Premier League last season. McNeil featured in every game for Burnley in that campaign and was a second half substitute in both Dyche's final game in charge, a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City, and the 3-2 win over Everton before it.
The midfielder has endured mixed fortunes since moving to Everton in the summer. He scored an emphatic half volley to secure a win at Southampton and got the third goal in the club's last win before Arsenal, the 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. But he has been in and out of a side that has struggled for goals and creativity. McNeil started on the right of a five man midfield against Arsenal before switching to the left after about 20 minutes. From that position he beat defender Ben White several times and sent in a delivery that should have seen Abdoulaye Doucoure open the scoring in the first half. Instead, it was on the hour mark that Everton got the goal that clinched the win as Tarkowski sent in a deep in-swinging corner that was met by the centre back.
Asked how Dyche had got the best from him after five days at Finch Farm, the new boss suggested McNeil may have benefitted simply from being so familiar with the people, personalities and tactics of him and his coaching team having worked with them for so long. He said: "Different players have different ways about them, they have different formats, different styles, he has come into a club with a different style. Maybe a bit more familiarity for him [against Arsenal], certainly as people - he knows us as people and not just tactics and stuff like that. He has delivered a performance."
Dyche added Demarai Gray, who McNeil replaced in the starting line-up despite him being on a good run of form, was dealing with a groin or hip issue and stressed his faith in the attacking players at his disposal, adding: "I believe there is some real quality here and I believe we can affect games and we have done that [against Arsenal] and we have got to keep doing that."
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