Another season-long fight against Premier League relegation looms larger as Everton head to the Vitality Stadium to encounter surprise package Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Per Evertonfc.com, left-footed winger Dwight McNeil will not be at Sean Dyche’s disposal as he’s still recovering from a knee injury that forced him to sit out the last four matches.
Everton only netted once in that run but still picked up three valuable points, courtesy of low-scoring stalemates against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
However, Nottingham Forest toppled the Toffees 2-0 at Goodison Park in their last league outing of 2024, reigniting fears over the club’s first top-flight drop since the mid-1950s.
Broken machine
Dyche’s teams have never been prolific, but Everton’s inability to find the back of the net has been on another level.
Forest’s shutout on Merseyside marked the Toffees’ 10th scoring blank in 18 Premier League matches this season.
Even dead-last Southampton outperform Everton in this category, perhaps best illustrating the depth of the goalscoring crisis.
For further context, Dyche’s side finished the calendar year as the worst attacking team in England’s elite division with 31 goals.
What now?
Dyche’s ‘gut told him‘ Armando Broja could be the answer to Everton’s scoring woes last month.
However, the Chelsea loanee has only made 126 minutes of top-flight football since recovering from a long-term injury in December.
Broja deserves the benefit of the doubt, especially with Dominic Calvert-Lewin unable to rediscover his scoring touch.
Either way, patience is a luxury Everton cannot afford.
Tantalising trip
Dyche needs someone to assume scoring responsibilities as he bids to end the Toffees’ misery in Boscombe.
A 2-1 defeat in this corresponding fixture last term marked Everton’s fourth consecutive away loss to Bournemouth in all competitions.
Needless to say, they couldn’t score more than once in any of those meetings.
Bucking that underwhelming trend would require Everton to defy a wasteful run of four scoreless away league games across their last five.