Sean Dyche must axe Ashley Young in Everton showdown v Newcastle to stop Anthony Gordon
After a difficult couple of weeks on the blue half of Merseyside, Everton lifted the mood around Goodison Park with an excellent win over Nottingham Forest last time out.
Dwight McNeil’s second-half strike moved the Toffees within touching distance of Luton Town and only two points away from Premier League safety and after the Hatters’ defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday (5 December) Sean Dyche’s side could climb out of the drop zone with a win over Newcastle.
Eddie Howe’s side head into the clash off the back of an excellent win over Manchester United and Dyche may need to drop Ashley Young to ensure his side can try and keep former Toffee Anthony Gordon quiet.
The 38-year-old had a decent evening against Forest winning six of his nine duels both in the air and on the ground and wasn’t dribbled past once in the clash, but has shown already this season that he struggled to deal with quick direct wingers [Fotmob].
In the Merseyside derby earlier in the campaign, Young saw red after only 37 minutes as Luis Diaz gave the former England international a torrid time. He was only dribbled past once, but only won one of his four ground duels in the match and fouled the Colombian winger twice after he was beaten to be sent off.
So far this season, Young has only managed to tackle an average of 45.8 per cent of wingers that have attempted to dribble past him per game, a figure which places him in the bottom 20 per cent when compared to all Premier League’s fullbacks [Fbref].
On top of that he very rarely even attempts to tackle the opposition winger, averaging only 1.5 tackles a game, a figure which places him in the bottom 14 per cent of his positional peers in England’s top flight.
Now Gordon isn’t a player that often looks to take on the opposition full-back with the ball at his feet, averaging less than four attempted take-one per 90 minutes, less than 50 per cent of Premier League wingers, but he is incredibly quick.
He also has a knack for drawing fouls from his opposite number, placing in the 94th percentile for free-kicks won per game with an average of 3.35. Knowing how rash Young has been in the tackle at points this season, Everton may risk losing the right-back once again if he matches up with Gordon.
With Seamus Coleman back fit and among the match day squad, and Nathan Patterson waiting in the wings, Dyche surely cannot risk starting Young at St James’ Park on Thursday.
In other Everton news, Ian Herbert has called for an outcry over Manchester City’s latest actions during the Toffees’ point deduction saga