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Liverpool Echo

Everton line-ups for Aston Villa as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Arnaut Danjuma decisions made

Our writers pick their Everton teams for the Premier League game against Aston Villa at Villa Park

Idrissa Gueye, Arnaut Danjuma and Dominic Calvert-Lewin during an Everton training session at Finch Farm
Idrissa Gueye, Arnaut Danjuma and Dominic Calvert-Lewin during an Everton training session at Finch Farm(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Joe Thomas - Start Calvert-Lewin and Danjuma... if fit enough

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has to start if he is deemed fit enough, as does Arnaut Danjuma. Quite where either is in their battle for match fitness is unclear, but they can’t be far off.


If Sean Dyche has doubts, then protecting them for what already looks set to be a litmus test for expectation against Wolverhampton Wanderers next week might make sense. With question marks over the fitness of a dozen players and a potentially difficult season ahead, targeting games may be savvy until additions and recoveries can take full effect.


This all being said, Everton were good last week and there were many positives, particularly the performances of Alex Iwobi and Amadou Onana. I don’t think wholesale change is needed, just incremental switches.

If Calvert-Lewin is fit, he takes Neal Maupay’s place. If Danjuma is fit, he takes James Garner’s place and Iwobi switches from left to right.

My team (4-5-1): Pickford; Patterson, Keane, Tarkowski, Young; Iwobi, Onana, Doucoure, Gueye, Danjuma; Calvert-Lewin.

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READ MORE: Sean Dyche reveals what Everton 'have to do' after being left 'surprised' by reports

READ MORE: What Sean Dyche has 'spoken endlessly' to Amadou Onana about as Everton verdict given

Chris Beesley - Just the one change to side that lost to Fulham


With Sean Dyche declaring that Dominic Calvert-Lewin "comes straight back into the thinking" after his 90-minute run-out in a behind-closed-doors training match at Manchester United's Carrington complex on Tuesday, Everton's number nine should be back to lead the line at Aston Villa.

The Blues boss has been cautious with the squad's main striker since he went off injured in his first game in charge - a 1-0 win over Arsenal back in February - but after pledges to leave no stone unturned when it came to resolving his fitness issues, a prolonged period on the sidelines, further setbacks at the climax of last season and then this summer's "factory reset," the hope has to be that Calvert-Lewin can finally end the vicious cycle that has ensured he played in less than half Everton's matches in both of the last two seasons.

As first-team coach Steve Stone told the ECHO when speaking from the Blues' pre-season training camp by the shores of Lake Geneva last month: "It’s not about if Dominic is going to be fit for the first game of the season, it’s can we get Dominic ‘fit fit’ and we mean really fit like he was two years ago so when we play him you go ‘oh yeah’."

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Given the consequences of the team's profligacy against Fulham in their opening Premier League fixture, Calvert-Lewin's return to spearhead the attack cannot come soon enough so I'd bring him in for Neal Maupay. I'd also like to see Arnaut Danjuma, too, providing a more forward-thinking option from a wide area than James Garner but despite the on-loan Villarreal man also starting against the Red Devils, Dyche insists he and Vitalii Mykolenko still "have a bit to do" so it's just the one change in personnel for now.

My team (4-5-1): Pickford; Patterson, Keane, Tarkowski, Young; Garner, Gueye, Onana, Doucoure, Iwobi; Calvert-Lewin.

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