Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite must be axed by Sean Dyche v Crystal Palace
Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite does not appear to be at his best and Sean Dyche may consider taking him off at half time v Crystal Palace.
The 21-year-old was a fitness doubt before the game and even in his press conference, Dyche failed to confirm whether or not the centre-back will be available.
He did end up starting and it’s fair to say, it’s not going as per plan and he appears to have a mistake in him each time Palace are in the penalty area.
Branthwaite conceded the penalty that saw the hosts restore parity and make it 1-1 after an early Vitalii Mykolenko goal.
Eberechi Eze was doing his trickery and baiting the Everton defenders to slide in and once he got inside the penalty area, Branthwaite made minimal contact which was sufficient to give the penalty.
There was another extremely worrying penalty claim a few minutes and while the referee waved it off as simulation and even carded Eze, replays showed that there might have been slight contact by the defender.
Throughout the half, the Palace attacker bullied the Toffees defender and compared to how well James Tarkowski has handled the pressure, the 21-year-old has not done a good job at all.
According to Sofascore, he lost both of his ground duels and his pass accuracy was below 80 per cent as well which is not ideal.
In other Everton news, the purchase price for the 777 Partners takeover now hinges on one condition as sources finally speak out.