Sean Dyche challenges Everton star to add more goals to his game after Nottingham Forest heroics

Sean Dyche has praised Dwight McNeil in the aftermath of his match-winning effort against Nottingham Forest over the weekend - and now he's backing him to add more goals to his game.

McNeil, 24, has been a key figure for Dyche since his arrival in January, with the pair reuniting following their time together at Burnley in the past and he started every Premier League game from that first game against Arsenal until the final day against Bournemouth.

Despite an ankle injury that ruled him out of the opening few games of the season, he quickly wrestled back his position from Arnaut Danjuma and he hasn't left the team since. So far he's registered two assists and produced just the one goal but the quality of his finish at the weekend proves he can make the difference for Everton, and he also had a strike cleared off the line as well.

Speaking ahead of his side's clash with Newcastle United, he backed the winger to add more goals to his game after finding the back of the net in the win over Forest. "He showed that last season from when I got here, I think his form was excellent - assist and goals - and I think it's a surprise that it's taken that time to get off the mark this season because of his quality.

"He is a high scorer in training, so he's got real ability around the goal and he can score different kind of goals be it short or long range, so I'm very pleased for him that his work paid off. It's not just his quality I mean, he works very, very hard for the side and I think that's a good mixture when you've got hard-working players but also the quality to go with it."

McNeil has never been been a regular scorer, he has just eight goals in 52 games for the Toffees but ever since he arrived in 2022, the club has mostly been in turmoil on and off-the-pitch. He averages two shots per game which is joint-highest with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Beto and his overall figure of 1.97 across the past year sees him rank in the 41st percentile meaning he could certainly raise that figure.