Dyche could silence Gordon by unleashing Everton’s “tremendous” fringe player

Dyche must replace Ashley Young with a “brilliant” defender to stop Newcastle United.

These days, Everton is seldom out of the news.

Whether it’s for their incredible double-season survival of Premier League relegation or their record-breaking number of points being docked for profit and sustainability violations, the blue half of Merseyside is never far from the news.

However, this season has seen some truly amazing moments from the Toffees compared to the previous two years. If not for their ten-point deduction, they would now be in 13th place and out of the drop zone.

Sean Dyche has his men singing from the same hymn sheet, and while they will have a proper fight on their hands to survive this year, you’d be a fool to bet against them.

But with Newcastle United presenting a formidable opponent Thursday evening, Dyche will need to fortify his defense and find strategies to silence former player Anthony Gordon.

This is because of Young’s high-profile errors against Manchester United and Liverpool.

Nathan Patterson’s stats this year

Although Young has started at right-back for the majority of the team’s campaign, Patterson has nevertheless made appearances for the group on a fairly frequent basis.

He has started five of Everton’s 14 league games thus far and has also made seven appearances off the bench.

He may not have as much offensive potential as he would want, but he has shown himself to be an excellent defender over the past year, so that will probably be his main focus this week against the Toon.

The “tremendous” Scotsman, as his manager put it on BT Sport, ranks in the top 6% of full-backs for blocks, the top 9% for tackles, and the top 12% for clearances per 90, according to FBref, which compares players in Europe’s top five leagues.

Nathan Patterson must start over Ashley Young against Newcastle

First of all, it should be said that Young is still a fantastic footballer, and he clearly has a lot left to offer the Toffees, but for all the reasons we have already mentioned, he cannot start against the Toon.

He wins more tackles, makes more interceptions and clearances and has made zero errors leading to a goal, something Young cannot say after recent performances.

Such an inclusion could ensure that the aforementioned Gordon is in for a tough outing this evening.

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