By Joe Ellis

3rd Aug, 2022 | 9:10pm

Everton should hand Nathan Broadhead last chance to impress Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard faces a worrying selection dilemma ahead of the visit of Chelsea to Everton for the opening game of the 2022-23 Premier League season.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Toffees’ main man up front, has suffered a knock in training, according to the Liverpool Echo, and now could miss the visit of the Blues to Goodison Park.

That opens the door for a number of other players to take their moment in the limelight but one is already going to be unavailable as Salomon Rondon is still suspended from his red card last season.

There are suggestions that Dele Alli could be played as a false nine type of striker having scored a couple of goals during pre-season but he has never played that role before in his career.

Perhaps the best option for Lampard, then, would be to give someone like Nathan Broadhead his last chance to prove he can make a career for himself in the Premier League.

The 24-year-old spent the 2021-22 campaign on loan in League One at Sunderland where, despite some injury issues, he managed to hit double figures to help the Black Cats to promotion to the Championship.

Coming off the back of a good season and having really hit his stride at the end of the campaign drew closer, there might not be a better chance for the Welshman to strut his stuff.

Everton really don’t have many other options having loaned Ellis Simms to the Stadium of Light and others such as Tom Cannon and Lewis Dobbin are still very inexperienced at a senior level.

It is almost too risky for Lampard to try a system that he has effectively never played before and especially when there is a player at the club who can fill in.

Calvert-Lewin’s knock doesn’t seem to be one that will rule him out for a long time so for this one game, he needs to give Broadhead his final opportunity to prove himself.