Stekelenburg back older and wiser for Everton

Maarten Stekelenburg hopes his time out of the Everton side has made him more mature after the goalkeeper returned in the Toffees’ goalless draw with West Ham, on Saturday.

The 34-year-old missed four months of the season after picking up an injury in December, but was back in Ronald Koeman’s starting XI at the London Stadium and helped his side to a clean sheet.

A draw meant Everton missed out on the chance to move into the Premier League top five, but Stekelenburg was just happy to be back on the pitch after his prolonged period on the sidelines.

“It’s nice to be back in the team. It’s been a while, four months, so it’s good to be back,” he said.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“I’m a little bit older now and with a little bit more experience, so basically it’s just about keeping on training as good as you possibly can and hope your chance comes. Today that was for me.

“It’s the fate of a goalkeeper – you play or you don’t play and there’s no in-between. That’s why it’s good to be back.
“It’s nice to have a clean sheet, especially for a goalkeeper, but the game itself, I think we have to forget it. It’s a bad game from us and we’ve done a lot better in previous games. We didn’t lose, so that’s a good thing but you want to look up. We wanted the three points.”