OPINION
Marco Silva must hand Bernard his first Premier League start if he wants to field his best possible line-up against Leciester at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The 26-year-old has only played off the bench in league games since joining the Toffees in the summer, but after an impressive display against Southampton on Tuesday, it is about time he gets the nod to start one.
That means that £27million (Sky Sports) January signing Cenk Tosun must be axed and Richarlison should be used as a centre-forward with Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both in such woeful form up front.
Jordan Pickford simply must return to start in goals over Maarten Stekelenburg.
Jonjoe Kenny, Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma should remain in the defence but Leighton Baines has to be replaced at left-back by Lucas Digne.
After a poor performance in the penalty shoot-out defeat to Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, Tom Davies must be dropped from the midfield with Idrissa Gana Gueye returning to partner Morgan Schneiderlin.
Theo Walcott scored off the bench against the Saints, so he must start on the right-wing over Ademola Lookman while Gylfi Sigurdsson is a no-brainer to start in the No 10 role over Kieran Dowell.
Bernard impressed on Tuesday so should start on the left-wing with Richarlison returning to the starting line-up over Tosun and Calvert-Lewin to start up front after showing he can be lethal in front of goal in his first few months at Goodison Park.
Everton have won just three of their last 10 meetings with Leicester, but with this line-up, there is no doubt that Silva’s men will destroy the Foxes on Saturday afternoon.