An examination of the potential changes to the starting 11 that David Moyes could make for Everton's home game with West Ham United
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Is Carlos Alcaraz going to force his way into Everton’s starting line-up any time soon or – at a time when David Moyes has precious few options to change games off the bench – is the Argentinian finding himself pigeon-holed as the Blues’ impact substitute?
With Abdoulaye Doucoure unavailable for either fixture, firstly through suspension and then because his wife was about to give birth to their son, the on-loan Flamengo midfielder, who joined Everton on transfer deadline day of the winter window has already produced a brace of impressive displays in back-to-back trips to London.
Alcaraz marked his full debut for Moyes’ men with an assist and then a match-winning goal at Crystal Palace and was also lively in their 1-1 draw at Brentford.
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With his manager’s previous employers West Ham United heading to Goodison Park this Saturday, the 22-year-old would have the platform to make it a hat-trick of starts against sides from the capital but will the Scot be tempted to go without the hard-pressing Doucoure from the kick-off when he has the rookie as an ace up his sleeve if he wants to shake things up as opposition legs start to tire?
With Iliman Ndiaye, Dwight McNeil, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala all still injured and Moyes claiming Armando Broja only has an outside chance of featuring before the international break, there is a severe paucity of other alternatives when it comes to shuffling the pack.
Ashley Young, Everton’s oldest-ever outfield player, has gone from being a regular starter under Sean Dyche to a squad role with Moyes and while Tim Iroegbunam has produced a string of solid cameos of the bench in recent weeks – most spectacularly when he provided the flick-on for James Tarkowski’s last-gasp equaliser in the Merseyside Derby – the 21-year-old summer signing hasn’t started since the 3-2 defeat at his former club Aston Villa on September 14.
Right-back pair, club captain Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson both remain on the comeback trail again and were among the substitutes at Molineux but Jake O’Brien has made that position his own since the 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Michael Keane doesn’t look like dislodging either Tarkowski or Jarrad Branthwaite, even if the latter got his legs in a muddle for Wolves’ equaliser while another significant miss from Beto against Vitor Pereira’s side seems unlikely to be enough for him to be dropped in favour of Youssef Chermiti who hasn’t kicked a ball for the first team this season or scored a goal for Everton in a competitive match.