Frank Lampard changed his entire team for the Carabao Cup tie at Bournemouth so while the Everton manager probably won’t alter the full 11 for their return to the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, you’d expect him to perform major surgery on a side who were humiliatingly dumped out of the competition 4-1 at the same location just four days earlier.
Asmir Begovic captained the Blues against his previous employers but the Bosnia and Herzegovina international should now make way for England number one Jordan Pickford to make his final Everton appearance before going to the World Cup finals in Qatar.
You would expect Everton to revert to a flat back for second time around against the Cherries which suggests recalls for centre-back pair James Tarkowski and Conor Coady plus left-back Vitalii Mykolenko but it remains to be seen as to who wins the battle for the right-back slot between captain Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson. The young Scot was arguably the Blues’ most-impressive performer on a chastening night on the Dorset coast but his mistake in losing possession resulted in the hosts’ final goal.
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In midfield, Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana who both went off injured against Leicester City last weekend, face a race against time to recover and if they don’t make it, two from James Garner, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Tom Davies could be handed a reprieve but you would imagine that Alex Iwobi, who was used as a substitute on Tuesday, is recalled given that he’s started all of Everton’s other games so far this season.
On the wings, Demarai Gray, who like the Nigerian had been an ever-present in the starting line-up until he came off the bench to net the visitors’ consolation goal, will be pushing to go straight back in at the expense of either Anthony Gordon or Dwight McNeil.
Up front, Lampard says Everton are still awaiting on an expert opinion over Dominic Calvert-Lewin so you wouldn’t expect to see him again until after Qatar so Neal Maupay looks set to lead the line again, even though he didn’t get much change out of Bournemouth’s shadow squad first time around. Unless he was somehow being saved for the weekend, Salomon Rondon looks to be out of the picture given that the veteran Venezuelan striker wasn’t even included on a bench that included a clutch of youngsters on Tuesday.
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