Quite often when researching statistics for this column, I spot certain players who I didn’t expect to be performing so well.

“My God, Ryan Fraser (66) has created more chances than Bernardo Silva (53)”. “Blooming ‘eck, Michael Keane (158) has won more headers than Virgil van Dijk (142).”

Another man who often crops up is Ayoze Pérez. So after he helped Newcastle to come back from two goals down to beat Everton, this week’s Game Dissected looks at a player who got so much criticism he embraced it as part of his goal celebration.

Up there with the big-six stars

After scoring his second goal in Newcastle’s 3-2 win on Saturday Pérez stood with his fingers in his ears, beaming at Newcastle fans, before being