Everton line-ups vs Bournemouth as Demarai Gray and Conor Coady decisions made
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Connor O’Neill – Onana out and Gray in
Well, team selections don’t get much bigger than this. If Sean Dyche gets it right, Everton will remain a Premier League club; if he doesn’t, then the Championship beckons.
It really is that big. Which is why the news on Friday that both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Nathan Patterson would miss the game was an even bigger blow than it normally would be.
A lot depends today on whether Vitalii Mykolenko is fit enough to start. If he is, then the team should pick itself, but if he isn’t, then who knows which way Sean Dyche will go?
Everton v Bournemouth: Dyche’s pre-match presser
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But on the basis that he is fit enough to start, he will make up a back four with Mason Holgate, James Tarkowski and Yerry Mina. Jordan Pickford will no doubt start in goal.
In midfield, James Garner deserves to keep his place, as does Abdoulaye Doucoure, which brings us to Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana. Both cannot start, and I would go with Gueye over the Belgium international.
Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi should both start on either flank, with Demarai Gray leading the line in place of Calvert-Lewin.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Holgate, Mina, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Iwobi, Doucoure, McNeil; Gray.
Chris Beesley – I’d deploy him as a more forward-thinking full-back
This is potentially the most-important team selection that Sean Dyche makes in his entire managerial career and fitness issues have made it far from straightforward for him.
Everton are, of course, fighting to avoid their first relegation in 72 years but having succeeded Frank Lampard at the end of January when the team were joint bottom of the Premier League table alongside Southampton, Dyche has got the beleaguered Blues into a position where their destiny is at least in their own hands going into the final day, which was not the case in either 1994 or 1998, the two previous occasions that Everton’s position was under threat ahead of their last fixture of the season.
In truth, while there has been an improvement on what came before, this is still going to be the worst equivalent points per game haul in the Blues’ entire 135-year history in the Football League/Premier Leagueso given such dire circumstances it has to be a blessed relief that they know a win against Bournemouth will be enough for them to survive, regardless of what relegation rivals Leeds United or Leicester City do at home to Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United respectively. Everton have to be positive and on the front foot from the start to fuel the passion and noise of the loyal but long-suffering home fans inside Goodison Park.
With fears Dominic Calvert-Lewin won’t be fit to spearhead the attack, Dyche has a trio of very different options in Neal Maupay, Ellis Simms and Demarai Gray who all offer wildly contrasting attributes. Although the manager doesn’t seem to trust him as a winger, the ability of Gray to run at opposition defenders makes him my choice here to lead the line as a false number nine due to the energy levels he possesses.
There are also nervous waits in both full-back areas with the hope that Vitalii Mykolenko has recovered because if he doesn’t make it, the Blues face a potentially more significant tactical reshuffle to a three centre-back system. Hopefully the Ukrainian will return.
On the other flank, Everton lost Nathan Patterson to injury at Wolverhampton Wanderers but while Mason Holgate is his most-natural replacement position-wise, Dyche praised the job that James Garner did when asked to play on the right at Molineux and with his more assured distribution, I’d deploy him as a more forward-thinking full-back to try and take the game to the Cherries.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford; Garner, Mina, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Iwobi, Gueye, Onana, Doucoure, McNeil; Gray.
Joe Thomas – Conor Coady starts at right-back
My hope is that Vitalii Mykolenko is fit. If he is available then, while injuries still hurt Sean Dyche’s plans, they don’t force him to abandon the formation that has worked best during his tenure.
Mykolenko allows Dyche to keep with his 4-5-1 and for Dwight McNeil, the club’s most effective forward player in recent months, to occupy his favoured position. In that case James Garner, who I think has done well since getting an opportunity, starts ahead of Amadou Onana and I play Conor Coady at right-back.
Mason Holgate has struggled at full-back – completely understandably – and while Coady is also a central defender I think he will want the ball, be composed on it, and lead on the pitch – all features that are invaluable today.
Demarai Gray starts up top without question – he has been the best in that role through the times Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been injured.
If Mykolenko is unavailable I see no option beyond moving to a 5-3-2 with McNeil and Alex Iwobi as wing backs. It is far from ideal but I don’t see an alternative.
Coady joins James Tarkowski and Yerry Mina and Amadou Onana would then start for me alongside Idrissa Gueye and Garner, with Doucoure pushing forward to support Gray.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford, Coady, Mina, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Iwobi, Garner, Doucoure, McNeil; Gray.
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