Everton’s game against West Ham on Sunday afternoon should be a captivating one.

The Hammers are in the race for Champions League football, while Carlo Ancelotti’s men are vying for a place in the Europa League.

Both potential achievements would be just desserts for their impressive campaigns but Everton will have to play a lot better than they did last weekend.

On the chalkboard

Ancelotti’s side suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa last time out and one of the biggest reasons was due to Mason Holgate’s lacklustre defending. He surrendered possession to Ollie Watkins inside his own half before the Villa striker found the back of the net.

However, the defender wasn’t the only poor performer on the day – Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes was also particularly abject, but not for the first time since returning from injury. The former Barcelona man was lumped off with 20 minutes to go against Arsenal after turning in a lightweight performance which saw him win only two tackles.

That has been a theme of his performances when playing against some of English football’s big boys. Gomes won just one of his 12 ground duels against Liverpool back in February and three of 14 duels against Chelsea in March. He was equally as bad when the Villans beat Everton at Goodison last time out.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-everton-transfer-news-coutinho-ancelotti-hawng-sarr” title=”Read the latest Everton transfer news!”]

The midfielder lacked physicality again and prevailed in only two of his nine defensive duels throughout the contest, losing 78%. Therefore, Ancelotti must take the ruthless decision to axe him from his starting XI against West Ham this afternoon.

The £140,000-per-week earner isn’t up to speed and the Toffees are now bolstered by the return of Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Dangerous Doucoure

The Frenchman was back in full training this week after missing a period of seven league games dating back to the beginning of March.

Doucoure has been absent due to a small fracture in his foot but that now looks to have healed sufficiently for him to be ready for action.

It would be a gamble to start him given his fitness issues but he’d likely offer a lot more physicality in the middle of the park compared to Gomes. The ex-Watford general has won 1.8 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per game this season, compared to 1.4 tackles and 0.4 interceptions per match from his Portuguese colleague.

This should be a straightforward decision for the manager to make. Out with Gomes and in with Doucoure against David Moyes’ Irons.

AND in other news, Imagine him & DCL: Everton must swoop for £24.9m gem who gives oppo “sleepless nights”…