Toffees Sweet Start

As Marco Silva embarks on his second season in charge of Everton, The Blues look to progress and break into European football after cementing an eight-placed finish last season. A very compromising opening set of fixtures looks set to get The Toffees off to a promising start.

Defensive Options

At the back end of last season Everton boasted a mightily impressive defensive record, something which hasn’t been necessarily associated with Marco Silva’s style of play. Everton kept a colossal eight clean sheets in their final ten games of the season!

In defence, Everton have a few interesting options… And where better to start than in goal? With goalkeepers across the game priced quite stringently this season, with a severe lack of too many viable 4.5 options, it may be of benefit to splash out on a premium goalkeeper – and Jordan Pickford (5.5) may be the man.

With the introduction of VAR to the forthcoming Premier League season, penalties may be coming thick and fast, particularly at the start of the campaign.

And luckily for Pickford (5.5), his penalty record is rather impressive, saving 8 of his 35 faced. The 2018 World Cup was the first major competition to implement VAR, and it produced a record number of penalties, with the majority being awarded at the start of the tournament. If the 2019/2020 Premier League season follows suit, then Pickford (5.5) might be a smart way into Everton’s backline.

The most expensive of Everton’s defenders is last season’s hero Lucas Digne (6.0). During the 2018/2019 campaign, Digne (6.0) racked up an impressive four goals and four assists. With free kicks in his locker, his set-piece appeal could be set to heightened by potential spot kick duties.

Gylfi Sigurdsson (8.0) missed three out of his five penalties in the league last season, and with not many other prime candidates amongst the Everton squad, it would not be out of the realms of possibility for Digne (6.0) to alleviate Sigurdsson (8.0) of penalty responsibilities. With VAR being introduced too, this can only be a positive, for whoever The Toffees’ penalty taker may be.

Add this to the clean sheet potential shown from The Toffees towards the end of last season, alongside their inviting opening fixtures and 6.0 could prove great value for the French international. The 0.5 difference between Digne (6.0) and the other three of the back four is more than justified, but if money really is tight, Seamus Coleman’s (5.5) attacking threat should make him more desirable than the equally priced Michael Keane and Yerry Mina.

Although it may be important to note that Kurt Zouma (N/A) was a massive part of Everton’s defensive stability towards the back end of last season, and with the Frenchman still at his parent club Chelsea, confidence in Everton’s back four may not be as high with Zouma missing from their defensive contingent.

In spite of the fact that Chelsea are reluctant to sell this summer with their ongoing transfer ban, it is rumoured that Zouma is due to hand in a transfer request to help hurry the move to Everton up, with Marco Silva expressing keen interest in turning the players’ loan into a permanent move.

Attacking Options

Up the other end of the pitch, the standout options come in the form of two generously priced midfielders in Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison. As previously mentioned, Sigurdsson (8.0) may not be as appealing this season due to potentially lessened set piece involvement whilst sharing such duties with Lucas Digne (6.0).  With Richarlison’s (8.0) explosive starts in his first two seasons in the Premier League, he would be my preference of the two Toffees’ midfielders.

With many managers opting to spend big in defence and midfield, something has got to give, and cheap forwards might be the compromise for this season’s template structure. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (6.0), full of potential and spearheading this Everton side with such good fixtures, is an ideal price to help enable other premium-priced players

Although be aware, Everton’s supposed pursuit of Juventus’ wonderkid Moise Kean would almost certainly spell the end for any longevity in the starting eleven for Calvert-Lewin (6.0).

Of the other attacking options, one which deserves a mention is the other Brazilian winger in blue, Bernard (6.5). The tricky wide-man showed glimpses of class last season, although never quite had the stamina to see out a full ninety minutes. Now Bernard (6.5) has seemingly adapted to life in the Premier League, these glimpses of brilliance might become much more frequent and rival others in that midfield price bracket which looks quite scarce.

Predicted Line-Up (4-2-3-1)

Pickford

Coleman Mina Keane Digne

Gomes Gueye

Bernard Sigurdsson Richarlison

Calvert-Lewin

As of now, this would be almost certainly how Everton would line-up, barring any transfer activity of course. Zouma (N/A) could well be in the royal blue of Everton by GW1, although Idrissa Gueye (5.0) may be on the way out with Paris Saint Germain hoping to conclude a deal any time soon. With Fabian Delph (5.5) arriving, he could slot into the Senegalese-man’s vacant position, however Marco Silva has stated that Delph is purely back-up and if Gueye was to depart, a new face would be brought to Goodison Park – so that could be an area to keep an eye out for.

Conclusion

Priced generously, The Blues’ assets could enable the much-desired premium players in the game and help with the structure of GW1 drafts.

There looks to be good options throughout the Everton side this season and, with fixtures falling nicely, going for one, two, or even a triple-up on Everton players could pay off for the start of the season.

Who are you looking at starting the season with?