Bukayo Saka scored twice and Kai Havertz added a late third to beat Monaco and take us one step closer to our place in the last 16 of the Champions League next spring.

The winger scored a goal in each half and defeated the Ligue 1 side, finding Gabriel Jesus’ center in the 34th minute, before accepting an early Christmas present from visiting goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki with 12 minutes to go to a nervous one to avoid completion.

The win moved us up to 13 points and into third place in the standings. Another win from our last two games will almost certainly be enough to move into the top eight and skip the play-off round in February.

Saka perfectly placed

Both teams entered this level of competition with 10 points, and knowing that a win would give them a foothold in the round of 16, neither was prepared to show off right from the start.

The first 25 minutes were a subdued affair with little action in the goal area. Gabriel Jesus fired a shot straight at Radoslaw Majecki in the Monaco goal, Aleksandr Golovin missed from the edge of the box and Martin Odegaard saw two similar shots meet the same fate as both sides traded pushes.

But we started to turn the screw and gave Jesus two big chances within three minutes. Firstly, a long ball from Jakub Kiwior allowed Jesus to overcome the offside trap and get on goal, but after he steadied himself, his shot failed and Majecki’s boot deflected off.

Our No. 9 barely had time to think about that miss before he raced towards goal again. This time he did a great job of denying Thilo Kehrer to keep out a shot, but the Monaco goalkeeper reached out with a big hand to reach the ball and stop it from flying over his goal line.

The pressure and the atmosphere grew and the breakthrough finally came in the 33rd minute – thanks in part to the fact that someone was starting their first Champions League game.

Myles Lewis-Skelly was the youngest player to start for us in the competition since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2011, but he showed smarts to get us started. He picked up the ball from 40 yards out, turned past Maghnes Akliouche and pushed forward before threading a perfect pass to Jesus. The Brazilian looked up and played the ball across goal to the back post where Saka made a move that started and ended in the Hale End.

More missed opportunities

That would separate the teams at halftime. The incredible thing was that we were only one goal ahead as two more golden chances were missed before the break.

Odegaard picked up a loose pass from Soungotou Magassa halfway and stormed past Kehrer, allowing him to slot the ball past Majecki from 40 yards out, but his shot went agonizingly wide of the far post. Soon after, Gabriel Martinelli did the same after our skipper forced a high loss of the ball; And although the offside flag went up, replays showed that the VAR could have intervened in our favor.

We had dominated the first 45 minutes, but at the start of the second half Monaco looked more like a team that had won three of their last five Champions League games.

Just a minute after the restart we got a glimpse of how costly our missed chances could be when Kehrer fired a header just wide to shake nerves and in the 63rd minute they came even closer than Takumi Minamino Sloppy play in our half allowed Breel Embolo to advance in the penalty area, whose shot on the turn rippled into the side netting.

Late blooming

But with 13 minutes left, we managed to put the game away thanks to a big mistake from the French giants’ defense. Kehrer and Mohammed Salisu tried to play from behind into their own penalty area and passed the ball back to Majecki, who, under pressure from Havertz, passed directly to Saka, who had the simple task of completing his brace.

This increased the pressure as Monaco knew the game was decided and the final stages were a celebration where we continued to build on our tally.

Mikel Merino saw a shot blocked before Saka’s eyes lit up at the chance of a hat-trick, but his shot was deftly directed into the net by Havertz to give the result a more flattering but deserved result. Feel and see as we extend our unbeaten champions The league runs over eight games at the Emirates Stadium.

What’s next?

Everton traditionally head to the Emirates Stadium at 3pm on Saturday and then we turn our attention to the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup when we travel to Crystal Palace. Four days later the Eagles head to N5 in the Premier League for the first of our marquee games.