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Everton must avoid a new year hammering

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 30: Lucas Digne of Everton and Andriy Yarmolenko of West Ham United during the Carabao Cup fourth round match between Everton and West Ham United at Goodison Park on September 30, 2020 in Liverpool, England. Football Stadiums around United Kingdom remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 30: Lucas Digne of Everton and Andriy Yarmolenko of West Ham United during the Carabao Cup fourth round match between Everton and West Ham United at Goodison Park on September 30, 2020 in Liverpool, England. Football Stadiums around United Kingdom remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images) /
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After having their last match of 2020 against Manchester City postponed on Monday, Everton face West Ham United on Friday at Goodison Park in their first Premier League game of 2021.

It’s been a very strange and uncertain year that’s for sure and it was at times a difficult one for Everton with an up and down series of results over the course of the calendar year.

There were a lot of poor performances during the year, especially in the later part of last season and a month or so ago when this current campaign seemed in danger of coming apart. But overall there is also plenty of evidence of genuine progress being made on the pitch under Carlo Ancelotti.

Let’s hope that 2021 will be a year that sees the Toffees finally begin to consistently threaten the established elite and secure European football, maybe even a trophy, although that can only be the FA Cup now.

The Blues are in good form and have won their last four Premier League matches in a row. They were hoping to possibly make it five against City, but that wasn’t to be.

Everton’s first opponents of the new year are a team that they have an excellent record against; West Ham. The Hammers have a poor history against the Toffees and it’s a game that the Blues usually seem to win, as they did in the Carabao Cup earlier this season. 

As for Friday’s match, the team have had an unexpected break to recover after the frantic run of games because of Monday’s cancellation. That has also given James Rodriguez extra time to recover from his latest problem and means Richarlison will have served his mandatory concussion probation after the clash with Eric Bailly.

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While Richarlison will obviously start, there is a case for sticking with a winning side and possibly not bringing the Colombian straight back into the starting eleven, even if he’s fit enough.

Alex Iwobi has done nothing wrong in these past few games and has been a bit of a revelation playing on the right. He’s added pace and powerful running to that side of the Toffees attack and looks a different player from the timid and error-prone footballer who first signed.

Of course on the downside he doesn’t bring the technical skill and creative ability of Rodriguez. However, the Colombian can be brought on if Everton need his unique qualities and this gives him time to ease back into Premier League football.

As for the midfield despite the continuing absence of Allan, if Abdoulaye Doucoure, Tom Davies and Gylfi Sigurdsson (who’s also been excellent recently) can keep playing as they have in midfield then the Blues should be more than competitive there.

The only other issue I think there is in terms of team selection, is whether Seamus Coleman should return at right-back. Again I’d be very tempted to stick with the same back four that have secured three clean sheets in these past four matches and only conceded a solitary penalty against Arsenal.

Even if Rodriguez returns on the right, Holgate will offer plenty of pace and defensive cover for him and while he won’t be as adventurous as the Irishman he can get up and down as well.

West Ham after a slow start were in good form until recently when they’ve hit a bit of a mediocre patch and have only won one game in the last six.

Former Everton boss David Moyes has got them better organsied and a bit more solid defensively as you would expect from the Scot. He’s gone with Michail Antonio up front on his own quite often and it’s worked sometimes.

dark. Next. Three key matches for Everton from 2020

Moyes hasn’t ever won when returning to Goodison Park since he left the Blues in 2013 and I would expect that to continue on Friday evening. Everton should be more refreshed after their enforced break this week, so hopefully the Toffees can get their 2021 off to a winning start.