What will Everton's starting line-up be against Leeds?
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Since arriving at Everton a couple of weeks ago, Sean Dyche has favoured a 4-5-1 system, packing the midfield and offering the opposition very little time on the ball with three hard working central midfielders with relatively defensive minded wingers out-wide.
Despite receiving a portion of blame for the first goal in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Merseyside derby, Jordan Pickford remains a key man in The Toffees and is the undisputed number one. Unlike Lampard, who favoured a back three quite often, Dyche has fielded the same back four in both games with Seamus Coleman, Conor Coady, James Tarkowski and Vitaly Mykolenko offering the protection to Pickford and his goal.
Nathan Patterson is yet to return to full training following a long injury lay-off and the same can be said for former Manchester United midfielder James Garner.
In midfield, Everton are once again expected to go unchanged with Alex Iwobi, who has been deployed as a central midfielder for much of the campaign, used on the right-hand side.
In the middle instead is the trio of Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gana Gueye and Amadou Onana. Doucoure was reportedly frozen out of first-team training towards the end of Lampard’s reign but put in a stellar performance against Arsenal in a 1-0 win at Goodison Park a couple of weeks ago. Gueye and Onana have been relatively consistent performers throughout the campaign, with the latter catching the eye of several clubs across Europe, including both Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League.
Up-front has been the major issue this season for Everton with the strugglers, who begin the weekend’s round of fixtures sitting in the bottom three and the relegation places, managing just 16 goals in 22 games so far, which is the fewest of any team in the division.
Repeated injuries for Dominic Calvert-Lewin have frustrated his season, including being forced to miss out on the aforementioned Merseyside derby. Ellis Simms started in his place but the forward, who was on loan at Sunderland in the first part of the campaign, failed to make much of an impression, carrying out the difficult lone striker role at Anfield.
With Calvert-Lewin still out injured and Simms unlikely to have done enough to retain his place, it is expected that Neal Maupay will return to lead the line in a huge relegation six-pointer against fellow strugglers Leeds United this weekend.
Andros Townsend remains sidelined for Sean Dyche’s side after his broken leg that he suffered away at Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March 2022.
PREDICTED XI (4-5-1): Pickford; Coleman, Coady, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Iwobi, Doucoure, Gueye, Onana, McNeil; Maupay
UNAVAILABLE: Townsend (Injured), Patterson (Fitness), Garner (Fitness), Calvert-Lewin (Injured)
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