Everton face erratic Leeds with more injury worries

After scrapping home with a much-needed 3-2 win at Fulham, Everton now return to Goodison Park to face an unpredictable Leeds United.

Going into this match Everton fans would have been concerned enough about the team’s ongoing defensive problems and now with Lucas Digne’s injury that will only have increased.

But it is the Frenchman’s attacking contribution that will be missed the most as his creativity and ability to produce crosses of the highest quality – which so often lead to goals – are now absent from the side’s offensive play.

As we’ve outlined, Digne’s injury is a huge blow to the Blues and is the latest in a series of player absences that have significantly affected the Toffees season.

It seems at the moment that the side takes one step forward and then another one back and now this latest injury, just after Richarlison finally returned from his suspension, will be a source of immense frustration for Carlo Ancelotti.

His replacement is likely to be Niels Nkounkou and the young French full-back will have his work cut out to replicate the all-round excellence of his vastly more experienced compatriot.

Ancelotti might now be forced to revise his tactics and he may decide he wants more protection in front of his teenage defender rather than stick with the 3-4-3 that worked so well – in the first half at least – against Fulham.

He may however still decide to continue with it and give Nkounkou a vote of confidence, assuming he picks him and it’s difficult to see that anyone else would be likely to come in for Digne. Although one possible left-field selection could be Mason Holgate, who has played full-back before, if the boss wants a more experienced defender. But that seems unlikely.

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Richarlison’s defensive qualities will also be needed tomorrow to help out his young team mate, but hopefully not to the extent that he can’t get forward and support Dominic Calvert-Lewin effectively.

As for tomorrow’s opponents, Leeds have had a very inconsistent season. They have set out to continue playing in the Premier League the way they won the Championship last season under Marcelo Bielsa.

The Yorkshire club attack freely and create plenty of chances but they also leave themselves very open and concede a lot of goals too.

Leeds have been very erratic all season mixing some excellent performances and results with abject ones too. In their last three games they have conceded eight goals in two 4-1 defeats before then getting a goalless draw with Arsenal in their last match – a game they could and probably should have won.

I’m sure they will be looking to exploit Digne’s absence and will no doubt try and put Nkounkou under as much pressure as possible. This is also a strength of theirs as they enjoy attacking opponents down the right hand side. Without Digne and possibly also Seamus Coleman again, the Toffees will be defensively vulnerable on the flanks.

Given Leeds and Everton’s porus defences, the fact the Blues always seem to want to give their opponents two goals a game and both teams have let in a combined 33 so far this campaign, the likelihood of a 0-0 draw seems pretty slim!

The Blues though do really need to keep their new winning run going in the next two matches, especially with tough games against Chelsea, Leicester City and Arsenal coming up before the Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United.