Cenk Tosun says he is high on confidence after successive Goodison Park goalscoring cameos.
Everton striker Tosun struck 20 minutes after coming off the bench to seal his team’s rousing late victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Three weeks earlier against Fulham the Turkey international needed only 11 minutes to make his mark, dispatching a header into the Gwladys Street net after being sent on early in the second half.
Tosun was a starter in Everton’s opening five games of the campaign, the player spearheading his side’s attack and charged with creating angles and space for the three forwards roaming directly behind him.
He provided a killer pass for Theo Walcott to score in the draw at Bournemouth, having opened the season by teeing up Richarlison to hit his second in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But as a predator with 64 goals from his 142 Besiktas appearances – a figure which reads even more impressively when considering Tosun played as a substitute in 69 of those 142 matches – he is at his happiest on the goal trail.
Equally, the 27-year-old is thrilled his scoring efforts have contributed to Everton stitching together a three-game unbeaten run to jump to eighth in the Premier League table ahead of Sunday’s visit to Manchester United.
“It is getting better now, it was difficult to get in goalscoring positions in the first few games and I was the guy who made more assists for the players, left and right,” Tosun told evertontv.
“But in the past few games I had a lot of shots and got in a lot of scoring positions and those things made me happy.
“I am lucky at Goodison, scoring two goals in the past two games! The fans are great and at home they can make the difference. Away teams who come here feel the pressure. The supporters are like a 12th man for us and I am happy to play in front of them.
“More important was the three points… step-by-step we are going higher now.
“I want to congratulate all the players for the three points on Sunday, we played a good second half and go with big confidence to Old Trafford next week.”
Tosun is among a loaded field scrapping for places in Everton’s attack. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his fourth goal of the campaign after being sent on by manager Marco Silva late in the piece against Palace – the forward powering in a header from winger and fellow substitute Ademola Lookman’s precision cross.
Gylfi Sigurdsson has struck five times and Richarlison four, while Bernard has dazzled since coming into the team this month. Walcott has scored three goals and assisted two this term and Oumar Niasse – who scored eight times despite starting only 10 Premier League games last season – is waiting in the wings.
One man who is going to be very hard to displace, though, is goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. He has played every minute of every top-flight game since joining from Sunderland in summer 2017 and on Sunday saved crucially from Palace captain Luka Milivojevic’s second-half penalty.
“He is a great 'keeper. He is England’s number one and it feels great to play in front of him,” said Tosun.
“If you play with a goalkeeper like him you feel more comfortable. It is not easy to stop a penalty struck down the middle, so it was a great save.
“He made a big contribution to us getting those three points.
“Everybody wants to play. We have a really good team, not just 11 players but also those on the bench.
“We have quality players and they were great substitutions from the manager [against Palace].
“One player made the assist and two players scored the goals, so he did everything right. We have big dreams this season because we want to play next season in Europe – but we know that is very difficult to achieve."
