Sky Sports pundit predicts heavier load for Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Newcastle
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Dominic Calvert-Lewin could play a half against Newcastle on Wednesday night but Everton still have to be “coy” with him says Kevin Campbell.
The England striker has been involved as a second half substitute in each of the last two games in the Premier League, in his only action so far this season, and the Toffees could look to him to get the goals to end their losing streak at two on 19 October.
But Sky Sports pundit Campbell doesn’t think it would be wise to throw the number nine in from the start quite yet, although he does expect him to increase his workload once more.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News he said: “I think Frank Lampard’s going to have to play coy with Calvert-Lewin because what you don’t want to do is just thrust him in and hope.
“I think you can still afford to be cautious with Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Everton’s performance wasn’t bad at all against Spurs, they just never scored the goals at the key times when they should have.
“Hopefully it will change when you get to St. James’. It’s a difficult ground to go to now. Newcastle play with a lot of energy and a lot of quality, but you can get at their defence.
“So it’s going to roll round. I see Dominic Calvert-Lewin probably getting 45 minutes, or a bit more than he got at Spurs.
“But realistically the team that they play with [Neal] Maupay up top and with [Demarai] Gray, I think they did a decent job in the first half. And I know the game is 90 minutes but in order to get Calvert-Lewin on the pitch, it’s a competitive team to then get him on later to get the minutes.
“So Everton and Frank Lampard have to be clever with how they help Calvert-Lewin get the minutes in his legs.”
Everton didn’t take their chances in the frustrating defeat at Tottenham on Saturday (15 October), and passing up those opportunities meant they went on to lose 2-0.
Anthony Gordon will be back from suspension for the clash with the Magpies so should add an extra element in attack.
But a sharp Calvert-Lewin is the number one operator in the squad who knows where the goal is, so if a result is in the balance he could be turned to earlier, but the manager would prefer not to be chasing the game and have the luxury of managing the forward’s work load.