Ian Wright urges Everton to have more faith in Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Follow us on Google Discover

Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Pundit Ian Wright has told BBC Radio Five Live’s Monday Night Club that he wants to see a little more faith in Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The Toffees travelled down to the South Coast on Saturday afternoon, taking on Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium as Marco Silva looked to build on a 2-0 home win over West Ham United.

Everton fell behind to a Pascal Gross free kick, but an Adam Webster own goal and a smart run and finish from substitute Calvert-Lewin put Everton in front.

Everton capitulated though, with Neal Maupay bagging a penalty before Lucas Digne’s injury-time own goal handed Brighton all three points.

Silva is back under pressure, with his job seemingly being judged on a game-by-game basis at this point, and he faces a big decision about Calvert-Lewin.

The 22-year-old striker – who cost just £1.5million in 2016 – took his chance as a substitute on Saturday, and will now be pushing to start against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.

There is often a notion that Calvert-Lewin isn’t clinical enough, but he’s now scored three Premier League goals this season; no Everton player has scored more this term.

Now, pundit Wright has suggested that he saw real finishing ability from Calvert-Lewin on Saturday despite what people say about him, and urged Everton to have more faith in him, give him a proper run and play to his strengths.

“I just want to talk about Calvert-Lewin,” said Wright. “People talk about ‘yeah but he’s not a natural goalscorer’, he came on and scored a goal, and I thought to myself ‘that’s as good and as taken with aplomb as I’ve ever seen anybody take a chance’. They’ve got Gomes, Gylfi Sigurdsson, very good players, Richarlison, but they’re just not performing well enough. For me, have a little bit more faith in someone like Calvert-Lewin.”

“Give him a proper run, I’ve seen him hold it up, I’ve seen him run his socks off for that team. That was one of the first times where I’ve seen him in a situation where he’s come off the bench, he’s in an advanced position, they’ve put him through and he’s slotted it brilliantly. Now that says to me that they’ve got someone who can score, are they playing to strengths of the players they’ve got?” He added.