OPINION
Everton had more misery heaped on them after they were condemned to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Wolves on Saturday, meaning that they will no doubt look towards the upcoming clash with Manchester City with trepidation.
The Toffees have had a string of poor results recently – bar the 1-0 win over Huddersfield in mid-week – and Ruben Neves, Leander Dendoncker and Raul Jimenez all ensured that they took home Wolves’ share of the spoils.
In order to have a chance of getting a result against City, boss Marco Silva must make four changes to the side that lost on Saturday, with Gylfi Sigurdsson coming out after such a poor display.
In goal, Jordan Pickford must start as normal despite a shaky outing against Wolves.
In defence, it was clear from the start that left-back Leighton Baines should not have been playing. The £70,000-a-week [Spotrac] defender never looked comfortable on the pitch, which is why he must be axed in favour of Jonjoe Kenny after his woeful cameo. He replaced the veteran ace in the 37th minute, and he is by far a better option for the role at the moment.
The central midfield pairing of Andre Gomes and Tom Davies did work rather well at times, which was summed up by Gomes netting the Toffees’ consolation goal – so neither player must be dropped.
However, yet again, Theo Walcott was absolutely woeful on the left wing and he looked a complete shadow of himself. He needs to be axed as soon as possible by Silva, as it is clearly not working for him anymore – in his place should come Bernard, who will be able to provide some fresh ideas to proceedings.
It is not a surprise that Sigurdsson was abysmal yet again and it remains to be seen just how long the manager will put up with this. Nevertheless, he must be dropped in favour of Ademola Lookman, who will be able to inject some energy onto the right flank.
Richarlison did not have the best game on Saturday but he most not be dropped – he must play just behind the main striker, who should be Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Cenk Tosun’s sloppy outing.
If Silva makes the right calls regarding his starting XI on Wednesday, then there is no doubt that his team would be able to defy the odds against City.
