Following Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Everton on Monday, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that Abdoulaye Doucoure would be missing for the foreseeable future [The Liverpool Echo].
Doucoure was left out of the Toffees clash at Stamford Bridge as the club continue to do tests in order to determine whether the Frenchman has fractured his foot as is feared.
Ancelotti deployed a three-man midfield of Allan, Andre Gomes and Gylfi Sigurdsson to combat the Blues, but Thomas Tuchel’s well oiled side were difficult to match on the pitch.
With Ancelotti revealing that the club are currently unaware of when Doucoure will return for Everton, the Italian must now rely on Davies to take his place in the line-up.
After Allan suffered a long-term injury against Leicester in mid-December, Davies began starting for Everton on a regular basis [Transfermarkt].
Playing in a deeper role that he had done previously, the 22-year old began to thrive for the Blues, earning particularly praise from The Liverpool Echo’s David Prentice back in December [Royal Blue Podcast].
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Allan’s return to fitness in late February coincided with Davies finding himself injured, subsequently missing games against Southampton and West Brom, and that saw him return to the bench against Chelsea.
However Ancelotti needs his energy in midfield, and against Burnley and Manchester City before the end of the month the boyhood Blue must play.
Collectively, Sigurdsson and Gomes don’t possess enough energy to make themselves felt defensively midfield, which in turn puts too much pressure on Allan to do all of the heavy lifting.
Davies would ease the burden on the Brazilian and would even allow him to play with a bit more freedom in transition, simply by bringing more enthusiasm and steel to Everton’s defensive movements.
Everton face a number of crucial Premier League fixtures in the coming weeks as they continue to push for European football, and they simply can’t afford to throw opportunities away.
Davies has to play to bring some semblance of balance to midfield, and to help keep the European dream alive.
In other Everton news, Andre Gomes failed to impress against Chelsea as Allan set the gold standard.