View: Ancelotti cannot afford to rest Calvert-Lewin despite injury fears
Carlo Ancelotti struck fear into most Everton fans recently when he revealed his plans to rest Dominic Calvert-Lewin over the festive period.
Speaking on the club’s official website recently, Ancelotti explained that the striker may have to sit out of a game in the near future to avoid any potential burnout, “We are going to replace him with another striker. That can be Tosun, he is fit after the injury. It can be Richarlison, sometimes. There is no doubt about this.”
Keeping Calvert-Lewin fit and healthy has to be the priority for Everton. The England international is in red hot form and is currently one of the top strikers in the country.
With 14 goals to his name in all competitions, he is Everton’s top goalscorer by some margin – Richarlison is his closest rival on four.
However, it is a thankless task for Ancelotti, with Calvert-Lewin currently making it impossible to leave him out of the team.
His performance against Chelsea on Saturday night was another reminder of just how crucial he is to this Everton side, even when he is not the man scoring goals.
While his statistics from the 1-0 victory may paint a completely different story – he had an x.G of just 0.08 according to Wyscout – it was one of his more mature performances in an Everton shirt.
He took the game specifically to Chelsea’s Thiago Silva after spotting his weaknesses in the air and did brilliantly win Everton’s first-half penalty out of nothing.
As per Wyscout, the Brazilian failed to win a single one of his aerial duels at Goodison Park, which highlights how much he struggled up against the Premier League top scorer.
Calvert-Lewin bullied a central defender with the experience of Silva with relative ease and put in a mature performance without finding the back of the net.
He has quickly become undroppable for Ancelotti, who simply does not have the options beyond Calvert-Lewin who can provide as much value as the England star.
In other Everton news, Six key chances created – Sigurdsson back to his best against Chelsea