Great to see Lookman get a go (although you’d wonder, too, whether Walcott might be all but done at a team with pretentions to the top 10). It’s only his sixth start in the league for Everton, but he impressed in scoring against Lincoln in the cup last weekend.
And while we wait for this one, Arsenal and Chelsea are facing off in a big Women’s Super League clash. Nick Miller has it:
I’m interested, Everton fans, in your view of Silva. Surely he needs more time before Moshiri starts getting trigger happy, no? Does he need to be put under such pressure at this stage? Or is a kick up the whatnots desperately required? Email/tweet away.
The big takeaways from that team news are that Ademola Lookman gets a – ahem – look in for Everton, with Theo Walcott benched. For Bournemouth there’s a big blow, because Callum Wilson is injured and doesn’t make it. Liverpool loanee Nathaniel Clyne starts, though.
Team news
Everton: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne; Gueye, Gomes; Lookman, Sigurdsson, Bernard; Richarlison. Subs: Stekelenburg, Walcott, Mina, Tosun, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Kenny.
Bournemouth: Begovic; Clyne, Ake, Cook, Smith; Gosling, Lerma, Brooks; Stanislas, King, Fraser. Subs: Boruc, Surman, Mousset, Ibe, Daniels, Rico, Simpson.
Hello
Is Marco Silva the second coming? Is he a TERRIBLE FRAUD? Is he, perhaps, an OK manager doing an OK job with an OK team at a club whose expectations shouldn’t be sky high just yet? I leave that all to you, but the bare fact is that he’s under pressure to deliver at the moment. His side’s intentions have been good and some of the football has been very easy on the eye; the results aren’t really coming though, as one win in their last eight Premier League games will inform you, and they are looking distinctly like Just Another Mid-Table Side among the division’s 289,845 others.
So they find themselves level on points with – but nine goals better than – Bournemouth, whose manager has indisputably done a very good job indeed. There was quite a lot of excitement earlier in the season when Eddie Howe’s side climbed to within a few places of the Champions League contenders but, with two wins from their last 12, that’s been tempered a little. They’ve probably found their place, in truth: they’re not going down and won’t finish a great deal higher. None of which is a problem for them at this point, really.
Not that they won’t be gagging to to hit form today! It should be a pleasant affair between two sides that play good, front-footed stuff. And whoever wins might just inject themselves with some much-needed momentum. Stick with us – kick-off is at 2.15pm UK time!