A look at the potential changes to the starting 11 that Sean Dyche could make for Everton's home game with Chelsea
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Jarrad Branthwaite gestures during the match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium on December 14, 2024
Jarrad Branthwaite gestures during the match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium on December 14, 2024
(Image: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
Last December, Everton secured their third of four consecutive Premier League wins by beating Chelsea 2-0 at Goodison Park, but Blues boss Sean Dyche faces some potential selection posers ahead of the west London side’s final Premier League visit to the ground. Although Everton were thrashed 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in their most-recent meeting with Chelsea, they have won five out of their last six home games against them.
One player who definitely won’t be featuring for the hosts is on-loan striker Armando Broja, who came on for his second successive substitute appearance in the goalless draw against Arsenal on Saturday. The Albania international is ineligible to play against his parent club, so Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be hoping to spearhead the attack again ahead of Beto, who got the nod for the 4-0 defeat at Manchester United but has been back on the bench since.
Behind whoever leads the line for the Blues, there is the question of whether top scorer Dwight McNeil, who has netted four times so far this term, comes back into the side after a knee injury kept him out at the Emirates Stadium. The Rochdale-born player has been operating mostly in the ‘number 10’ role this season but with Abdoulaye Doucoure having reverted to that position against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the former Burnley man was back on the left wing before missing out on the trip to the capital.
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If McNeil is fit enough to be recalled out wide then one of the other wingers could miss out. Iliman Ndiaye is likely to retain his spot though so after just one match back in the side, Jack Harrison’s place could be under threat having been battling it out for a place on the right for most of the campaign so far with fellow loan man Jesper Lindstrom. Doucoure could be moved back into a deeper role but Idrissa Gueye and Orel Mangala have looked like a decent pairing in the last couple of games and with Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner both still injured, there’s not scope for much more tinkering in the centre of the park unless Dyche decides to promote FA Youth Cup hat-trick hero Harrison Armstrong.
The whole of the back five played well in the capital in what was a dogged defensive display. Vitalii Mykolenko’s only real competition at left-back would be Ashley Young switching flanks but such has been the form of the club’s oldest ever outfield player, he seems likely to stay put, rather than making way for Seamus Coleman or Nathan Patterson. Centre-back pairing James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite looked solid against Mikel Arteta’s side but while the former produced arguably his best display of 2024/25 so far, there seemed to be some issues with the latter talking to the bench, like he might have been nursed through an injury, so it is to be hoped that the club’s most valuable player is fit to continue, or else there might be a chance for either Michael Keane or Jake O’Brien.