Richarlison adapts to new role as back-three looms at Everton

Richarlison is starting to find his feet as the centre-forward at Everton, scoring a brace in Gameweek 11.

Meanwhile, there may be defensive changes afoot for the Toffess as Yerry Mina finally comes into contention for a place in the team.

In this latest Scout Notes article we’ve looked at the Fantasy Premier League talking points from Everton’s 3-1 win over Brighton.

Everton 3-1 Brighton

Goals: Richarlison x2 (£6.8m), Seamus Coleman (£5.2m) | Lewis Dunk (£4.4m)

Assists: Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.5m) | Solly March (£5.0m)

Richarlison (£6.8m) continued to make a mockery of suggestions that he cannot play as a centre-forward with an excellent display on Saturday. The FPL midfielder scored a brace in a 3-1 win over Brighton, taking his returns in games played up front to four in four (three goals and one assist). In those matches, Richarlison has averaged 7.5 FPL points compared to 7.00 in four appearances of 85 minutes or more on the wing (excludes his Gameweek 3 sending off). So he is now matching his previous Fantasy appeal in his new role, after struggling to adapt to it initially.

The former Watford attacker also showed good resilience on Saturday afternoon as he came through a first-half injury scare to play a starring role at Goodison Park. In stretching to a recover a heavy touch Richarlison rolled his ankle and required a lengthy spell of treatment. He had to hobble to the touchline before coming back on and moved gingerly for a few minutes afterwards. However, he soon got back into his stride and went on to score twice. Such determination to continue, when he could have potentially come off with the knock, will be almost as pleasing to his 25.6% ownership as his two goals.

“It was no surprise to me that Richarlison carried on but it shows you his resilience. That is Richarlison. He never gives up, he’s always ready to play, to fight and to achieve and to give good things for us on the pitch.” – Marco Silva

After receiving much attention at the expense of Richarlison last week, Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.5m) came out of the win with just an assist to his name. However, Gameweek 11 was the first in which Richarlison outscored the Icelandic international since Gameweek 2. It is possible that Sigurdsson may still outscore the Brazilian in the coming weeks. Richarlison only had one more shot than the former Swansea man against Brighton, who registered double the key passes.

The chief creator on the day was left-back Lucas Digne (£4.8m) who fashioned more chances than any other player. Those with access to the Fantasy Football Scout members area will also find his average position interesting given how advanced it was. That said, he was unable to convert any of that promise into FPL returns and justify his place in the Gameweek 11 Scout Picks.

The stand-out defender in the fixture was Seamus Coleman (£5.2m) who scored Everton’s second goal for a 10-point haul. It was the first time he had found the net in 22 months.

Yerry Mina‘s (£5.4m) substitute appearance, his first since signing in the summer, could signal a defensive change at Everton. As usual, Marco Silva lined the Toffees up against Brighton with Digne and Coleman flanking Michael Keane (£4.9m) and Kurt Zouma (£5.0m) for the third match in a row, but Mina’s introduction triggered something of a re-shuffle for the final minutes. The full-backs were pushed higher up the pitch with the centre-halves forming a three-man defence; Zouma on the left, Mina in the middle and Keane on the right. With the Colombian international, scorer of that stoppage time World Cup knockout goal against England, struggling with a foot injury up until this point, Silva has been unable to use a back three until now.

“It is one possibility. Unfortunately, I did not have enough central defenders during pre-season to prepare the team more because it is a formation I have used many, many times before and is a formation I like. It is one formation we are ready to use, especially with the full-backs in our squad and the players we have in our attack as well. It is one possibility we have in our squad and when we prepare our squad we will play three at the back if we need to.” – Marco Silva

Everton definitely will not be able to use a three-man defence when they travel to face Chelsea next week as Zouma is ineligible to face his parent club. That should mean that Mina gets his first start of the campaign and Silva clearly expects a lot from him.

“It was a good moment for him to feel the Premier League for the first time and for him to feel our blue shirt for the first time as well. Not just because it is possible he will play the next match but I just felt they could create some problems for us from set-pieces and they were playing with two up front. So I thought it was a good moment for him to make his debut in the Premier League. We fought to sign him because we know how he can help us and be a good player in our squad. Of course, everyone was anxious to see him. He wants, really, to play and he is working hard to play in our squad but I didn’t see him being anxious. He can see how well the other two are doing. He is hungry to play in our squad and when he gets the chance I know he will perform well.” – Marco Silva

Brighton’s run of three consecutive clean sheets predictably came to an end at Goodison Park. It was a result that will have reinforced the view of some Fantasy managers that the Seagulls’ assets are of more use when they play at home. This was their third defeat in five away matches as their very high goal attempts in the box conceded figure finally took its toll on their defensive assets.

A defensive error from Lewis Dunk (£4.4m) allowed Richarlison to take advantage and score the opening goal. That said, he is unlikely to lose his place over the incident, especially considering he scored the equaliser in the second half.

“He’s a centre-half. He made an error. It’s not the first time that he has made one and it won’t be the last. There won’t be any potential England centre-halves that haven’t made mistakes and won’t continue to make mistakes. It’s part and parcel of the job. We have to look at how he has been for us and he has been really excellent so he’ll be fine.” – Chris Hughton

Glenn Murray (£6.6m) was signed by over 135,000 managers having scored two goals in three matches prior to Gameweek 11, but he, perhaps predictably, blanked away from home once again. He has scored just one goal in six matches on the road in 2018/19, and that was from the penalty spot against Southampton. It will be interesting to see how his ownership fluctuates over the next six Gameweeks as their more favourable opponents will all be met on their respective home patches. Meanwhile, Leicester, Crystal Palace and Chelsea are the next three visitors to the Amex Stadium.

Manager Chris Hughton does not believe too much should be read into Brighton’s latest away day loss. He explained that a trip to Everton was always going to be difficult for a side like his. In spite of that, he and several players were disappointed with the manner of the defeat.

“Probably what will hit home to me is in our last four games we’ve got three wins and one loss. That will be important because we are Brighton in our second season in the Premier League playing against a team that will be pushing top six this season. They’ve spent big money, the likes of Walcott, Richarlison. These are players that have cost big money. Digne for a full-back was big money. You have to accept that, they’ve got good players. You have to be perhaps at your best to get something away from home against the likes of these and we weren’t.” – Chris Hughton

“For the majority of the game, we were second best. Duals, we didn’t keep the ball well enough, challenges. There is no doubt they have got quality and good technical players and work hard for one another. But the onus is on us. We have had plenty of experiences to know what it takes to come to places like this and get results. I didn’t think we stuck to our level for as long as was needed to take something from this match.” – Mat Ryan

“They didn’t have to work hard for their goals. They are good here. A couple of individual mistakes, which happens. It is a bad day at the office. We didn’t play in the second half, they dominated the game and fully deserved it. They are going places.” – Shane Duffy

It was another match in which Anthony Knockaert (£5.5m) did not feature from the start. He has now gone three Gameweeks in a row without being named on the team-sheet and he has come on as a substitute only in the last two. Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£6.7m) started all three of those matches in the Frenchman’s place at right midfield but came off with a hamstring complaint against Everton.

“I felt a kind of cramp in my hamstring. We will try it tomorrow. This was one of the (fastest) games (in the Premier League).” – Alireza Jahanbakhsh

With Knockaert already on for Jose Izquierdo (£5.9m), Striker Florin Andone (£5.0m) was the Iranian’s replacement, registering his first minutes since arriving in the summer. The new signing played on the right-wing, not his primary position, but the suggestion is that he could make more appearances in the future.

“(Andone) was very good. It was very difficult for him to come on and he had to play wide on the right because Ali was injured. I think he was at a really high level. He is a very good player and he is going to bring us a lot.” – Bruno

Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Digne, Zouma, Keane, Coleman; Gueye, André Gomes; Bernard (Lookman 68′), Sigurdsson (Mina 90′), Walcott (Calvert-Lewin 85′); Richarlison.

Brighton XI (4-4-1-1): Ryan; Bong, Dunk, Duffy, Bruno; Izquierdo (Knockaert 63′), Kayal (Andone 78′), Stephens, Jahanbakhsh; March (Bissouma 70′); Murray.

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