View: Ancelotti could be taking big Everton risk as he hints DCL will play v Sheff Weds
Everton welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Goodison Park on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
If Everton win, they’ll face either Tottenham or Wycombe in the next round as Carlo Ancelotti aims to take major silverware to the blue side of Stanley Park for the first time since the 1994/95 season when Joe Royle led the Toffees to a FA Cup glory.
Paul Rideout was the hero of Everton’s cup-winning campaign that year, with the striker scoring the only goal of the game against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United at the old Wembley.
Everton fans will now be hoping that they have a striker in their current squad who can emulate the heroics of Rideout 26 years ago in Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who could return from injury this weekend when struggling Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday make their way to Merseyside.
Speaking ahead of the game on Friday, Ancelotti hinted to the media that the 23-year-old England international could be involved against the Owls.
He was quoted by the Liverpool Echo as saying: “Honestly I want to put out the best line-up possible for the game against Sheffield. We don’t want to think about Leicester, we want to move on in this competition. I think Dominic can start, he trained well and is in a good physical condition.”
Calvert-Lewin has missed Everton’s last two matches against Wolves and Rotherham with a hamstring injury but due to the Aston Villa game postponed, he’s had plenty of time to recover.
However, we don’t want to see Ancelotti taking any risks with the in-form England striker this weekend against a team like Sheffield Wednesday.
Sure, we struggled against Rotherham in the third round of the FA Cup, beating them in extra-time at Goodison Park. But there’s no way that Calvert-Lewin should be risked in a game like this.
The 23-year-old has scored 14 goals in 19 appearances across all competitions this season and albeit taking extra-time to beat Rotherham, the Blues have shown they can win in his absence.
Alex Iwobi and Michael Keane both scored in the 2-1 win over Wolves as Ancelotti opted to play a strikerless formation that saw Gylfi Sigurdsson and James Rodriguez the most advanced players.
Cenk Tosun and Abdoulaye Doucoure netted versus Rotherham so it is not absolutely vital that Calvert-Lewin plays this weekend against Sheffield Wednesday.
We’re doing really well so far this season and there are hints that we could win major silverware for the first time since Rideout stunned Ferguson’s Man United.
But taking every game as it comes can be a dangerous approach. We have bigger fish to fry than just Sheffield Wednesday.
What if DCL suffers a setback and our league form starts to falter? Or what if he cannot play in the next round of the FA Cup when a clash against Tottenham looks likely.
Ancelotti and his medical team will know best of course. But if Calvert-Lewin is going to be involved we’d rather he start on the bench and come into the game if we’re struggling.
In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell has predicted the result of this weekend’s clash with the Owls.