Benitez wasn’t convinced Gbamin deserved to start v Wolves
Everton suffered a third straight Premier League defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night, losing 2-1 in the Midlands.
The Toffees have been unlucky with injuries, and the absence of Abdoulaye Doucoure was telling against Wolves.
Rafa Benitez handed Jean-Philippe Gbamin his second Premier League start for Everton since August 2019, but the Ivory Coast international lasted just 45 minutes after a horror show.
According to The Athletic, the Toffees manager had not even been fully convinced the 26-year-old has done enough in training to warrant a start.
However, injuries and errors by Tom Davies during the 5-2 loss at the hands of Watford appeared to have forced his hand.
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The 23-year-old did not cover himself in glory against the Hornets despite scoring the opener, and he missed a huge chance to force his way into the starting XI with Doucoure out.
Gbamin struggled with the pressing and pace of Wolves, and while Benitez was not convinced he would cope, Davies’ poor showing against Watford did not leave with him with much of a choice.
Having been away for a while injured, Fabian Delph was not fully fit, but he was preferred ahead of Davies as the manager opted to remove the Ivorian after the first-half.
He did not particularly change the dynamic, but the former Manchester City star did enough to control the damage and is expected to start against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Davies and Gbamin are clearly not impressing Benitez at the moment, and with quality depth missing in that department, the Everton boss could be forced to look for reinforcements in January or next summer.
In other Everton news, a Toffees ace is set to be assessed ahead of Tottenham clash after major Monday blow.
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