Chance for Nathan Patterson to finally prove his Everton worth as news emerges
Seamus Coleman’s season-ending knee injury is now likely to hand Nathan Patterson his first real chance to prove his worth to Everton as news emerges Sean Dyche may pick him for final Premier League games.
Coleman was an unfortunate casualty after being stretchered off in the 2-2 draw with Leicester on Monday (1 May) following a late tackle by Boubakary Soumare that saw him fall awkwardly and injure his knee.
Coleman released a statement on Wednesday (3 May) revealing that he has suffered no ACL damage, before Liverpool Echo on 3 May, revealed that the Ireland international is still likely to miss the rest of the campaign.
The 34-year-old veteran has proven a crucial member of Sean Dyche’s side in recent weeks, regularly shining above his teammates despite the poor form Everton have endured in their quest for Premier League survival.
However, Dyche may not have to worry too much as he certainly possesses a player capable of taking over the torch and filling in for Coleman at the levels required.
According to The Times journalist Paul Joyce writing in his article [3 May], Dyche is likely to now start former Rangers full-back Patterson in Coleman’s absence in their remaining four Premier League games.
Joyce wrote: “Patterson, the Scotland international, replaced Coleman at right back and impressed at the King Power.
“He is likely to keep his place for the club’s four remaining Premier League fixtures — against Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth — in which they will look to climb out of the relegation zone and secure their top-flight status for a 70th consecutive season.”
Central defender Ben Godfrey has often been deployed at right-back – as well as at left-back – in recent weeks which has proven to be a defensive liability for Dyche with his side so often leaking goals in recent weeks.
When Everton added Patterson to their ranks last summer, the plan was to place him as Coleman’s understudy and feature when the Ireland international wasn’t present, but that hasn’t been the case with Godfrey preferred along with a long injury lay-off suffered by the former Ibrox wonderkid.
With the 21-year-old now back fully fit, Dyche may now have been handed the ideal solution to replace Coleman’s quality and a chance for the Toffees to finally stay true to the promise they gave Patterson when he joined.
The Scottish defender is a natural right-back and should be the obvious candidate to come in, particularly when you consider how poorly Godfrey has performed.
In 13 Premier League appearances, Godfrey has averaged a worrying Sofascore rating of 6.42 and been dribbled past 1.4 times whilst making 2.1 tackles and interceptions per match.
Patterson, meanwhile, who has played considerably less, has still managed to average a respectable score of 6.69 and made 3.4 tackles and interceptions whilst being dribbled past 1.1 times.
Dyche is known to favour experience over youth at times, but that tact will have to change with Patterson ready to come in and stake a claim for a permanent place for next season.
And given his qualities and burgeoning potential, there is no better candidate to replace Coleman both now and when he eventually departs Goodison Park.