Everton predicted lineup vs Leeds: £35 million man starts, James, DCL and Richarlison upfront

Jordan Pickford is to be preferred over Robin Olsen.

Harrison currently averages 1.6 dribbles per game, the highest amount in this Leeds side, while also having the most key passes per game with 2.6, his ability to start attacks for Leeds is vital and it clearly shows since he’s fifth in the entire Premier League for key passes, above players like Mohammed Salah and our own James Rodriguez. Everton will have to worry about Harrison starting those quick Leeds counter-attacks which should’ve gotten them 3 points against Arsenal.

The reason they didn’t win that game is their inability to finish, Leeds consistently hit the woodwork throughout the game which let the Gunners escape with a point, even though they had 25 shots, only managing to get 4 on target, the reason for this was their key goalscorer couldn’t find the back of the net.

Patrick Bamford has been fantastic for Leeds in the Premier League, he has 7 goals and already looks on track to beat his Championship goal tally of 16 from their title-winning season. Before this season, Bamford only had 1 Premier League goal, even though he had made 27 appearances for Norwich, Burnley and Middlesbrough.

To see Bamford turn into a goalscoring machine for Leeds must be strange for fans who jumped off the hype train after his previous failures in the top flight, but it’s now safe to say the 27-year old is making some serious noise in the Premier League now.

Some unfortunate news for Evertonians, as it has been announced that Lucas Digne suffered an ankle injury in training which is likely to leave him out of action for around 2 months. This is a serious blow to Everton who rely on Digne’s ability to overlap and swing accurate crosses in which got the French full-back 4 assists in his 8 appearances. Digne joins Seamus Coleman which means both of Everton’s starting full-backs are out with injury, which means Carlo is going to have to adapt to get the best out of his team.

Here is how I think Everton will lineup against Leeds this Saturday:

Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford

Even though some Everton fans are clamouring for Robin Olsen to get another chance after his impressive performance against Newcastle, Pickford hasn’t really set a foot wrong in the past few games, it’s hard to blame him if he isn’t getting help from his defence.

The worst thing Toffees fans can do right now is to throw Pickford under the bus, especially due to the ridiculous amount of slandering he’s received over clearly accidental tackles. Pickford needs chances to regain his confidence and even though I feel like Olsen is the safer option, Pickford has proven that he can be a top keeper if he doesn’t let distractions get to his head.

Ancelotti could very possibly go with Swedish number 1 as Pickford’s athleticism won’t really be required since Leeds like to take a lot of chances inside the penalty area. The problem with starting Olsen would be that the Toffees need to develop some team chemistry to stop these communication issues at the back, so if Everton chop and change their goalkeeper then that could cause more defensive errors due to a lack of communication, which has really been a problem and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.