Everton’s predicted lineup vs Fulham: Richarlison back, James Rodriguez to shine

Richarlison has returned to the team after missing 3 games due to suspension.

Right-Wing: James Rodriguez

James has had quite a rough international break, Colombia suffered two defeats with one particularly embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Ecuador and James was rumoured to be involved in a locker room scuffle after the defeat.

It’s clear that the James Bond of Banfield is probably happy to be back in Merseyside after an awful experience with Colombia, but is he going to be able to hit form again after a rough patch for both club and country?

I think the simple answer for this will be yes, James, as I’ve previously mentioned, is still a world-class player and is arguably one of the best players technically in the Premier League. James thrives against poor defences, his amazing performance against Brighton highlighting this due to him being given time on the ball and his fantastic dribbling ability.

If he’s given time to pick out a pass then he’ll punish almost any team in Europe, nevermind just the Premier League, and teams like Fulham are much more likely to sit back instead of risking being picked apart if somebody is caught out of position.

I think this will lead to a dominant game for James, who I think will have a similar performance to the Brighton game due to the huge gap in quality between him and the Fulham players. He’s going to go all out for the 3 points due to Everton’s poor form before the international break, and a motivated James Rodriguez is as dangerous as ever, which I think leads to him getting at least 1 goal and 1 assist against the Cottagers.

James is my favourite to win Man of the Match against Fulham.  

Left-Wing: Richarlison

HE’S BACK!

It’s been a long 3-game ban for Everton fans but the Brazilian who’s been labelled as “f*****g brilliant” by fans, and by himself on social media, is back and after a good international break for Brazil, he’s probably itching to get some Premier League action and will be looking to get on the score sheet against Fulham.

It was clear just how important Richarlison was to Everton before, we’d never won a match he didn’t play in while he’s been at the club, but his importance to Ancelotti was blindingly obvious in the past 3 games.

Without Richarlison teams were able to close down James and Calvert-Lewin without having to worry too much about who’s on that left side, but with the Brazilian maestro returning, Everton’s attack can continue to steamroll like it did before his suspension.

Richarlison’s energy and off the ball movement is what makes him so vital to the club, his runs open up Calvert-Lewin and give him so much space which is why he had such a fantastic start to the season, and without his partner in crime Dom seemed to slow down a little.

I think Richarlison helps lead Everton to a dominant victory over Fulham, with our front 3 all being ready to turn this ship around and get us back on sail towards European football.

Striker: Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Who else could it be?

Calvert-Lewin returns after another successful international stint with the Three Lions, where the tallysman showed he had quite the knack for taking a beautiful penalty.

Dom has been guaranteed goals for Everton, showing we didn’t have to go too far at all for our Romelu Lukaku replacement, with the former Sheffield United winger showing he can be a top striker in English football.

I think it’s almost a guarantee that with everybody back Calvert-Lewin is probably going to get on the scoresheet, with Richarlison to take the pressure off him. Dom will be free to rise like a salmon and score with his head, or show his Gary Lineker like goal poaching when he makes his way into the penalty area.

Dom is a striker for the present and the future, who can still only get better at 23-years old, he’s well on track for his first 20-league goal season and looks like he’ll be in the golden boot race, which will show how much of an effect Ancelotti has had on him since this will be his first full season under the Italian.

I’ve previously mentioned how Ancelotti wants to turn Dom into an English Filipo Inzaghi and so far his efforts have been very successful, let’s see if Dom can continue to score like the Italian legend against Fulham.