After another disappointing draw at home, Everton’s season is starting to veer into the problematic territory and the Blues will not have an easy ride Sunday afternoon either against a Crystal Palace side that carries the longest unbeaten record in the top five European leagues.
David Moyes’ sides have produced their best performances when the tide of public opinion seems to have turned against them however, so it’s a bit difficult to predict exactly what the mentality will be today at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Kieran Dewsbury-Hall’s yellow card suspension means an important cog in the middle will be out, and what remains to be seen is how courageous Moyes will be in replacing him. The veteran manager has appeared quite resistant to change so far, and could choose to go ultra conservative and start with Tim Iroegbunam in the middle. Or he could be a bit more aggresive and start with Charly Alcaraz in the middle. Or he could attempt to fix our striking woes with Iliman Ndiaye as a False-9, and Tyler Dibling and Alcaraz start too.
If ever Evertonians want to see what a massive difference good coaching makes, they will only need to look at the manager manning the visitor’s dugout on Sunday. Oliver Glasner has taken a bunch of unheralded footballers along with some genuine stars, built a formidable side out of them and added shrewd signings to make the team even stronger despite the losses of Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze. Incredible, really.
Who’s Out?
Jarrad Branthwaite and Merlin Röhl remain out per David Moyes in his pre-match press conference on Friday, along with Dewsbury-Hall.
Everton squad available vs West Ham
Goalkeepers: Pickford, Travers, King
Defenders: Keane, Branthwaite (OUT), Tarkowski, O’Brien, Mykolenko, Coleman, Patterson, Aznou
Midfielders: Gueye, Garner, Iroegbunam, Dewsbury-Hall (SUSPENDED), Röhl (OUT)
Wingers: McNeil, Ndiaye, Grealish, Dibling, Alcaraz
Attackers: Beto, Barry
Tactics and Formation
Everton will likely stick to the 4-2-3-1 they’ve used so far.
Starters (likelihood of starting rated out of 10)
Jordan Pickford – 9/10
Vitaliy Mykolenko – 8/10
Michael Keane – 9/10
James Tarkowski – 9/10
Jake O’Brien - 6/10 Was ran ragged last weekend, but will Moyes really bench him?
Idrissa Gueye – 8/10
James Garner - 8/10
Jack Grealish – 9/10
Carlos Alcaraz – 5/10 I want to believe that Moyes will not just play Iroegbunam, but who really knows.
Iliman Ndiaye - 9/10
Beto – 7/10 This could go either way really, who knows.
Mark Travers
Tom King - Back to two goalies on the bench we go with this thin squad.
Adam Aznou
Nathan Patterson - Could Patto be worse than what we saw at RB against West Ham?
Seamus Coleman - See above, replace Patto with Seamus.
Tim Iroegbunam
Dwight McNeil
Tyler Dibling
Thierno Barry - The Eagles’ centrebacks could have a tougher time with Barry than Beto.