Match Preview
Everton head into the second international break of the season needing a tonic to settle the mounting anxiety over their Premier League form which has them level on points with Burnley, the highest placed club in the bottom three in 18th, after seven games.
This weekend sees fellow strugglers Bournemouth come to Goodison Park for the first time since the drama of the final day of last season when Abdoulaye Doucouré’s solitary goal kept the Blues in the top flight.
Everton’s continuingly poor results mean that it’s also the latest home game to have taken on outsized significance, with last Saturday’s unfortgivable home defeat to Luton Town ratcheting up the pressure on Sean Dyche to finally oversee a win on home soil in 2023-24.
When asked about the importance of this clash with the Cherries, Dyche insisted that every game in must-win but with difficult trips to Anfield and the London Stadium on the other side of the break, the manager cannot escape the imperative to start picking up victories.
With Seamus Coleman and Dele Alli still a way away from being able to return and André Gomes close but unlikely to be fit for this weekend, Dyche will have the same squad from which to select a line-up capable of not only fashioning chances — that hasn’t been the big issue this season — but, more importantly, converting them.
Everton spurned some gilt-edged chances to take the lead against Luton before the Hatters scored twice at the other end but though Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled one back shortly before half-time, the hosts failed to find the net again in the second period.
Just as he did at Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup and last time out in the Premier League, Calvert-Lewin is likely to start against Bournemouth, with Beto likely to be on the bench again. Dyche’s experiment with both strikers on the field at once was not a successful one against Luton so it’s doubtful he’ll try it from the off.
“He’s getting there, to true total fitness” Dyche said of Calvert-Lewin who appears to be reaping the benefits of his patient rehabilitation over the past few months. “The closest and best I’ve seen him was arguably at Brighton last season, in terms of his all-round game. It was excellent. He is showing signs of that recently, scoring goals is obviously a good habit.
“I think he is getting to the endpoint in terms of being totally fit, clear of mind, clear of body and doing what he does best which is creating and scoring goals. He is showing really strong signs of that.”
What changes, if any, he does elect to make remain to be seen. Nathan Patterson is pressing his case for a starting berth in place of Ashley Cole at right back and Jack Harrison has made two encouraging cameos off the bench in the last two games, suggesting that he could be due a full debut wide in right midfield.
That could come at the expense of James Garner, however, who has been deployed in that wide right role up to now and been one of Everton’s most influential players so far. Moving the 22-year-old into the middle would require one of Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye to step aside, however.
Rather ominously, given how accommodating Everton can be to visiting teams who haven’t won for a while, Bournemouth are winless so far this season, having drawn three and lost four of their opening seven League games.
Andoni Iraola looks set to be without six players for this one, with new signing Tyler Adams likely ruled out until late November with a thigh injury and Ryan Fredericks, Lloyd Kelly, Chris Mepham, Emiliano Marcondes and Alex Scott all expected to be sidelined until the other side of the international break.
Like the Toffees, the Cherries have found goals difficult to come by but they are a capable side with players, some of them tall and physical which will make them a threat from set-pieces, a new Achilles heel of Everton’s that Luton exploited last weekend.
Dyche will feel that as long as his team keep creating chances, they must surely start going in and if his side can get off to another fast start and grab an early goal, it should settle things down and hopefully breed some confidence.
Kick-off: 3pm, Saturday 7 October 2023
Referee: David Coote
VAR: Simon Hooper
Last time: Everton 1 – 0 Bournemouth
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Onana, Harrison, McNeil, Doucouré, Calvert-Lewin