Ben Wild

Sun 25 October 2020 14:15, UK

Danny Murphy has claimed that Everton keeper Jordan Pickford should be dropped for his side’s trip to Southampton on Sunday.

Murphy believes the England keeper should be dropped following his tackle on Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk last weekend.

It looks as if the Reds centre-back will be injured for an extended period and Murphy, speaking in his Daily Mail column, said that because Pickford wasn’t punished for his actions on the day, then he should be dropped to send out ‘the right message’.

He said, “I don’t think Jordan Pickford should be playing at Southampton on Sunday while Virgil van Dijk is starting a long rehab. It’s not personal against Pickford.

“But my belief is that any bad tackle or dangerous play should always be punished, whether on the day or retrospectively.

“It sends out the right message to the whole football community that you shouldn’t get away with anything reckless. And that goes for any player who made the challenge Pickford did.”

Despite Murphy’s opinions, Pickford should start against Southampton. The only reason that Carlo Ancelotti should consider dropping his number one is due to performance issues.

Just because Pickford made a mistake doesn’t mean he should be punished by the club as the Premier League or the referees on the day decided not to punish him. It was a red card offence make no mistake about that. But the referees decided not to send off the 26-year-old for whatever reason.

Ancelotti shouldn’t need to make a statement to anyone, Pickford knows what he’s done and just because he caused a nasty injury doesn’t mean he deserves some extra punishment. Players get long-term injuries all the time but for some reason, it’s only the Everton keeper who should get in extra trouble.

Hopefully, Pickford can have a relatively quiet afternoon against Southampton as he has spent enough time in the headlines this week.

In other Everton news, some Everton fans have reacted to Moise Kean’s two-goal haul for PSG.