‘People will start to wonder’: Paul Merson makes Lukaku claim ahead of Everton clash

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Paul Merson has claimed that ‘people will start to wonder’ if Romelu Lukaku doesn’t start for Chelsea against Everton on Thursday, as he told Sportskeeda.

The Sky pundit thinks Everton’s trip to Stamford Bridge is an ‘easy one to call’ as he feels Chelsea will thump the out-of-form Merseyside club 3-0.

It has been an abject few months for those in Everton colours, as they have picked up only five points from their last ten matches.

That’s relegation form and it puts the under-fire Rafa Benitez bottom of the form table during that time frame.

Since Lukaku has returned from injury, he is yet to be thrown back into Thomas Tuchel’s XI and he will be hoping to pile more misery on his former side if he is handed that start again.

But Merson made it clear that if he’s not starting, then it will be a worry, as he labelled the Toffees as ‘sitting ducks’.

“I think this is an easy one to call, so I predict a 3-0 win for Chelsea,” said Merson. “Everton are sitting ducks at the moment and I just don’t give them a chance. 

” They were fortunate to beat Arsenal and didn’t do anything extraordinary that day, they just showed a lot of heart and scored an absolute peach to win it late in the game.

“If you look at Everton’s Premier League record in recent weeks, it’s been dismal. They’ve only got five points from a possible 30 and are bottom of the table if you only consider results from October.

“The only question for Chelsea is Romelu Lukaku’s situation. He’s clearly back fully fit now, but when is he going to get back into the team? If he stays on the bench for a few more games, people will start to wonder if Thomas Tuchel really fancies him or not.”

Since his big-money return to the Premier League, Lukaku has scored three goals from his 11 matches and he hasn’t found the back of the net since his brace against Aston Villa in September.

To put that into context, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin also has three goals this term.

But he has only played three matches and hasn’t played since those opening games of the Premier League season.

From Everton’s perspective, it’s good news and bad news that Lukaku is out-of-form, but given their luck, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he starts on Thursday and finds his goalscoring boots again.