MOTM Analysis - Swansea 0 - 3 Everton - Marouane Fellaini

Marouane Fellaini can do nothing wrong at the moment, the Belgian is an influence on everything Everton do, he was vital in their win against Manchester United at the start of the season scoring the only goal, he got his name on the score sheet again in their 3-1 win over Villa, and in the Toffees' latest match against Swansea, the giant midfielder was again man of the match after setting up Anichebe and scoring a goal for himself.

In the Swansea match, Fellaini created 5 chances for his teammates, one of them resulting in a goal, and was influential as ever in his side's victory. The Belgian used his size to be a threat from set pieces against a short Swansea side, as he had three attempts on goal coming from set pieces alone, scoring from one of them.

His large build is one of Fellaini's greatest strengths, and against a Swansea side who is (I think) the shortest in the Premier League, he was always going to have a great game in the air has he towered over even the Swansea centre-backs (Tate and Williams). A lot of the Belgian international's received passes were in the air, from either long balls from defence or set-pieces.

Fellaini was often seen up against the centre-backs, supporting Victor Anichebe up front to form a 4-4-2, a position we have seen him a lot in this season despite the Belgian being a midfielder, and one of those long balls that the man of the match received was in the build up play, from a set piece just inside Swansea's half which he brought down with a great chest and controversially handled to the Everton striker for the opening goal of the match.

Everton's game plan was to disrupt Swansea's tiki-taka like playing style, something Moyes executed admirably as the Toffees ended up with surprisingly more possession than their opposition, though they were helped when Swansea went a man down in the 58' minute after Dyer received a second yellow only 12 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Fellaini played quite a big role in this plan as he stopped the centre-backs passing the ball around, disrupting Laudrup's tactics which focus heavily on ball retention. By pressing heavily, he forced the centre-backs to make hurried passes which were often inaccurate, and sometimes lead to a goal. The forced long balls up field were won easily by Everton's team which was much larger than the Swans'.

If Fellaini carries this great form on longer than the opening matches of the Premier League, Everton fans could be looking towards a good season as if the Belgian is playing well, then so will the Toffees with his great influence on his teammates.

Thanks for reading this shorter article of mine, would you guys like this to become a common series were I analyse the MOTMs of big games in the Premier League? If so, tell me in the comments below, you don't need an account to do so!