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Theo Walcott debut watch: Assist in Everton's 1-1 draw with West Brom

 Theo Walcott of Everton looks on during his debut in the Premier League match between Everton and West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park

Everton had to settle for a point as they drew 1-1 at home to struggling West Brom at Goodison Park on Saturday but how did Theo Walcott do in his first game for the club?

Walcott joined the Toffees in a £20m move from Arsenal in midweek and he marked his debut with a headed assist for Oumar Niasse's equaliser from Wayne Rooney's lofted pass.

It was the first time that he has been directly involved in a Premier League goal since April and the first time that he has provided an assist in the competition since October 2016.

Theo Walcott made the most sprints of anyone on the pitch on his Everton debut against West Brom
Image: Walcott made the most sprints of anyone on the pitch at Goodison Park

The 28-year-old winger sometimes found himself on the periphery but nobody could doubt his endeavour - he made more high-intensity sprints than anyone else on the pitch.

Here, we pick out the key moments in Walcott's debut display.

Walcott watch

18 – After a quiet start, he wins a free-kick with his first run at the West Brom defence.

27 – Expertly controls a long pass and quickly whips a cross into the area.

“What a delivery that was from Theo Walcott but there’s only one man in the box,” says Garry Birtles on co-commentary for Sky Sports. “He’s going mad and he’s every right to go mad. That’s an absolute beauty he has put in there.”

45+1 – Booking! His first half for Everton ends with a yellow card for a foul on Grzegorz Krychowiak.

“That’s not very good,” says Birtles. “It is a little bit premeditated too.”

56 – Cenk Tosun's intelligent flick presents Walcott with the chance to open his legs down the right flank, but his deflected cross travels straight into the arms of Ben Foster.

70 – ASSIST! He pulls away to the far post and gets on the end of Wayne Rooney’s wedged ball into the box, heading it back into the path of Oumar Niasse who turns the ball home to level things up.

76 – Chance! He is denied a debut goal by a fine save from Foster. The winger waits on the edge of the area in anticipation that a free-kick may fall for him. It does and he fires a sweet volley towards goal, but the Baggies goalkeeper makes the save.

Theo Walcott in action during the Premier League match between Everton and West Bromwich Albion
Image: Walcott's new team-mates need to do more to play to his strengths

Allardyce's verdict

"There was a brilliant volley which he might have scored from and the head back for Niasse," Everton manager Sam Allardyce told Sky Sports when assessing Walcott's performance after the game. "But as I said before, our players have to have an understanding of where Theo wants the ball and they didn't today.

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"In fact, our players didn't pass the ball very today to anybody, that's for sure. So we need to get better in that area. Theo Walcott is a very quick player with a lot of talent but we must play to his strengths and we will try to improve on that, as we will try to improve on our whole game next time around against Leicester."

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