Former Everton forward Tony Cottee worries where the goals are going to come from for his old club and believes the return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin can’t come soon enough.
The Blues have enjoyed an encouraging start to the campaign, with them picking up their first three points of the season against West Ham United last time out. Neal Mauapay’s goal was the difference between the two sides at Goodison Park.
However, Everton have only managed to score six goals in all competitions so far this season, with Calvert-Lewin yet to kick a ball for the club. The striker has not featured after suffering a knee injury in the week leading into the start of the campaign.
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But having returned to full training before the international break, there is hope at the club that the England international will be back available for selection when Everton return to action against Southampton this weekend.
“But the one thing Everton have got to do is get a goalscorer in,” Cottee told Cheeky Punter. “Obviously, they’ve got Neal Maupay who I really like but he can’t do it all on his own and losing Richarlison was a huge blow.
“Calvert-Lewin needs to get himself fit as soon as possible. Defensively they have steadied the ship with some good signings and they have a good mix in midfield now, Gordon has been fantastic.
“But I just would worry about where the goals are coming from, hopefully, with Maupay scoring against West Ham, he will go on a run and they will push up the league.”
Everton preserved their Premier League status by the skin of their teeth last season, securing their place in the top-flight with a win over Crystal Palace in their penultimate game of the campaign. But despite optimism being high among supporters, Cottee still believes Blues boss Frank Lampard has a 'difficult' job on his hands due to the money wasted over the last couple of years.
He said: “I hope so. I’m very supportive of English managers and obviously Frank’s an ex-teammate of mine at my old club, so I have a big interest in how he does.
“I was really pleased they stayed up because if a club like Everton gets relegated under an English manager everyone starts saying ‘English managers aren’t very good’ and we seemed to have turned the tide around, especially with Graham Potter at Chelsea now, so I want to see them do well.
“It’s a very difficult job at a club with huge expectations and a lot of money wasted over the last few years which has diminished this season’s budget.”
One of Everton’s standout performers so far this season has been Nathan Patterson. The full-back completed a move to Goodison Park from Rangers back in January but initially struggled to make a meaningful impact.
But to his credit, Patterson has bounced back with renewed purpose this season and impressed ahead of the international break. However, the defender now looks set for a spell on the sidelines after picking up an injury while playing in Scotland’s Nations League win over Ukraine last week.
And when addressing the full-back’s form, Cottee believes the big thing for Everton is that, in Patterson, they have finally found someone who can replace club captain Seamus Coleman.
He said: “It was a strange one, I think they paid £15 million for him and I hadn’t seen him play in Scotland. He didn’t really play when he came in last year.
“Ben Godfrey was playing right back and I was wondering how good he is, because he wasn’t getting a chance. But he looks like a really good player now Frank has given him a chance. The main thing for Everton was replacing Coleman in that role and hopefully, they have done that now.”
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