View: Ancelotti must drop Holgate for Everton clash v Arsenal
Everton face yet another must-win fixture when they face Arsenal on Friday as European football begins to slip through the club’s grasp.
Winless in five Premier League games now, Everton were previously within touching distance of European football, only for their own shortcomings to let them down.
Defensive error after defensive error has seen them waste their game in hand advantage, with the Blues now 11 points behind Liverpool in fourth with just a single game in hand.
When the Toffees face Arsenal on Friday, Carlo Ancelotti needs to make one difficult personnel decision; he needs to drop Mason Holgate.
Only last season Holgate was seen as Everton’s best defender, often presenting himself as the most confident and composed defender amongst Everton’s ranks.
However this season he has suffered through severe dips in form, whether that be playing as a centre-back or as a right-back, despite being labelled “absolutely superb” by Liverpool Echo journalist Sam Carroll in December.
Against Tottenham Holgate and Michael Keane combined to make two farcical mistakes, both of which saw Harry Kane convert and ultimately saw Spurs draw 2-2 at Goodison Park.
Though Keane was equally culpable against Tottenham, Ben Godfrey needs someone to partner him against the Gunners and Yerry Mina is currently injured.
Keane has been inconsistent throughout the season but his highs have been far superior to Holgate’s, who has rarely turned in a performance worth praising.
There has been plenty of speculation that Carlo Ancelotti could look to sign a new centre-back in the summer, despite the fact that he already has four able options to choose from, but if he does decide to make a move he’ll need to determine who to replace.
If he was to drop Holgate against Arsenal it wouldn’t necessarily signal the end of the defender’s Everton career, but for the sake of experimentation it would be worth seeing how Godfrey and Keane fare together.
Everton’s attacking play against Tottenham was sublime but defensively they let themselves down, and Ancelotti must do something to rectify those issues before Europe becomes a distant dream.
In other Everton news, Blues defender wanted by high-flying club but Brands sets £17m+ demand.
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