Everton travel down to the South coast of England tomorrow as they take on Eddie Howe’s entertaining Bournemouth side in their next Premier League fixture.
On paper this represents another winnable match for Everton after last week’s game against Southampton. But Bournemouth are certainly not a team to be taken lightly.
The Cherries have enjoyed an excellent start to the season having taken six points from their first two games. After a comfortable win over Cardiff on opening weekend, they went to West Ham on Saturday and came from behind to win 2-1 at the London Stadium.
Both these games were won against opposition likely to be in a similar position in the league to Bournemouth themselves. So Eddie Howe’s side are doing what they need to do and beating those teams around them.
As for Everton, despite last weekend’s deserved win over the Saints, there is still room for improvement. And the Blues have had some unwelcome news this week as manager Marco Silva has confirmed that two of the club’s new signings, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes, are unavailable until mid-September at least.
Of the two Mina’s continued absence is the most obviously frustrating. The Colombian central defender’s debut has been anticipated ever since his move from Barcelona on deadline day.
And Everton’s most significant weakness remains central defence. With Phil Jagielka still suspended the Blues are relying on Michael Keane and Mason Holgate although other new defensive signing, Kurt Zouma, may also be ready this weekend. Even so that’s only three fit centre-backs.
Tomorrow’s opponents will probably provide a stern test of the Toffees’ defensive solidity. The Cherries have so far averaged 12 shots and 2 goals a game, exactly the same number of goals of course as Everton.
Bournemouth’s forward Callum Wilson has had a particularly fine start to the season with a brace of goals and one assist already and in this form will represent a real danger for the Blues.
The South coast club play an expansive and adventurous style that is easy on the eye. They have pace and a real goal threat up front. And given how often they rescue something from losing positions, are obviously a fit and determined side.
All of this is a tribute to manager Eddie Howe who has done a fine job maintaining Bournemouth’s Premier League place these past few seasons.
But the Cherries are also sometimes vulnerable because of the way they play and their commitment to progressive, attacking football. However despite that they are pretty solid overall defensively. Hopefully Richarlison and Walcott can exploit those opportunities especially on the counter-attack.
As well as still lacking their main defensive signing of the summer, the Blues are also missing a player who has seemingly begun to rediscover his form of two season’s ago, Morgan Schneiderlin.
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The French midfielder was one of the biggest disappointments of last season. But despite nearly leaving the club in the summer, he has responded well and so far played with commitment and energy. He was particularly effective last weekend and provided an assist for Theo Walcott’s goal in the 2-1 win.
So now Everton could really do with having Portuguese midfielder Gomes fit. The most likely candidate to replace Schneiderlin is Tom Davies. The Blues are short of midfield options having let Muhamed Besic leave again on loan to Middlesbrough and with James McCarthy still injured.
This is an important season for Davies as we have underlined on this site. Assuming he plays he will hopefully be able to make a useful contribution to another Everton win tomorrow.