View: Everton 20y/o must start against Burnley after terrible run
Everton play Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday in desperate need of a win following a run of four defeats from their last five Premier League matches.
The Toffees lost 1-0 to Leeds United last time out and boss Carlo Ancelotti will need to take some lessons from that defeat and apply them to from the start against Sean Dyche’s men.
One particularly strange decision was playing Tom Davies at wing-back, with Niels Nkounkou left entirely out of the squad.
The French youngster who arrived over the summer has been impressive in his fairly limited time at the club and provided an assist on just his second appearance against Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup.
The presence of Lucas Digne meant that he has been forced to be patient up until this point, but with the former Barcelona man out, Ancelotti needs to trust him.
Against Leeds, Davies completed just one dribble and looked out of place, as would be expected for a central midfielder in the role (via WhoScored). The decision also meant Alex Iwobi had to move across to the left, where he was nowhere near as effective as he can be from the right.
Finding the balance with a squad lacking full-backs is a difficult challenge for Ancelotti and it would be easy for him to bring Seamus Coleman back in, provided he is fit, and keep Iwobi on the left.
However, the more forward-thinking and exciting prospect would be to start Nkounkou, who is the only player in the squad capable of even getting close to replicating what Digne does from the wing-back position on the left.
The balance Everton found down the flanks with Digne and Iwobi against Fulham was very exciting and it is worth exploring further, especially against a definitively solid unit like Burnley.
In other Everton news, here are three things we learned from the Toffees’ 1-0 defeat to Leeds United