James Tarkowski: Arsenal win is only a step in the right direction for Everton

The Burnley connection played a huge part in a 1-0 win against Arsenal as Dwight McNeil's 60th-minute corner was headed home by former Clarets team-mate Tarkowski as Sean Dyche, who managed them both at Turf Moor, made a memorable debut at Toffees boss.

Their performance was a world away from the struggles endured under Frank Lampard and while Tarkowski said the squad loved the ex-Chelsea midfielder, they had already embraced Dyche's way of working and been rewarded with a first win since October.

"It's never nice and all the lads loved the manager (Lampard) but it was just unfortunate we couldn't give him any results," Tarkowski said after scoring his first goal for the club since arriving on a free transfer in the summer.

"I think the way we played is just exactly what the manager wants. It's very straightforward with the manager.

"He gets you to work hard, gets you together as a team, makes you hard to beat but he wants you to show that personality out on the pitch, that you are a team and together.

"He's not that old school that we just stand there with no balls and just run back and forward (in training). That was a short period in the week.

"He's not a complicated manager. He's very simple, very straightforward, so it's not hard to buy into what he's about.

"You've seen it already after a week's work that pretty much everyone has bought into it already.

"But we've got to keep building on that and it will be down to working hard again and we'll all go into next week's game (the Merseyside derby at Anfield) and we'll look forward to it."

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