Everton: 3 Takeaways from the dominating win against Leicester City

Everton's Italian head coach Carlo Ancelotti gestures to supporters on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Everton and Chelsea at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on December 12, 2020. (Photo by PETER POWELL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

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Everton (Photo by OLI SCARFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

James Rodriguez is expected to be fit and back against Arsenal.

3. Will James Rodriguez Come Back Motivated?

This one may be a bit confusing, James has missed both games against Chelsea and Leicester because Ancelotti didn’t want to risk the Colombian picking up a more serious injury than the knock he had suffered.

Everton fans knew this was bound to happen as James’ lack of football at Real Madrid, but one thing fans didn’t expect is that two of Everton’s best performances of the season so far came without their marquee playmaker even in the squad.

The fans will have to hope that James has noticed the teams performances without him in the squad and that he will come back more motivated than ever, with the Toffees flying back towards the Champions League places, they need James to come back into the squad willing to fit into a successful scheme that is getting Everton the points they need to challenge for Europe.

One problem is that James doesn’t like to track back defensively, which of course makes sense, Ancelotti said he didn’t sign James to defend, but it would help if he did a bit more defensive work to take some pressure off the midfield and more specifically the defence.

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It’ll be a big help for the Toffees if they can have the creative abilities of James back, with the Colombian proving he’s still world-class and he’ll be a key part of Everton’s European challenge.