Lukaku or Benteke? Ex-international defender explains who he would rather face

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Everton and Crystal Palace played out a 1-1 draw on Friday night.

Former player and current pundit Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports Friday Night Live (Friday 30 September, 19:40) that he would rather face Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke than Everton forward Romelu Lukaku.

Everton and Crystal Palace played out a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, and much of the pre-match talk was about Belgium international strikers Lukaku and Benteke and what they bring to the side.

Both men found the net in quite spectacular fashion on Friday, but at times they also looked a little subdued and the general consensus was that they could have contributed even more.

The two strikers are Belgium’s leading scorers in Premier League history, but when comparing the two Carragher feels Lukaku just has the edge due to his ability to use his physical strengths more.

“I think I’d rather face Benteke, I think he is a lot more static in his movement. Lukaku uses his physical presence a bit more than Benteke and it’s impressive the goals he has at his age,” Carragher told Sky Sports.

“You’d like to put a bit of Graeme Sharpe (Everton legend) in the two of them, a bit more aggression. Use those strengths that they’ve got a little bit more.”

“Whenever you watch them play and look what they can do, you see on good days they are fantastic but on bad days they can be really poor. I think both just lack a little more aggression.”

Lukaku opted to remain at Everton this season despite plenty of speculation about his future, and the Toffees supporters will be hoping he can fire the side towards a European finish.

Benteke struggled to make an impact at Liverpool as his style of play evidently differs from the way in which Jurgen Klopp wants the Reds to approach the game, but at Palace he seems very much at home.

The former Aston Villa man is arguably the best player in the Premier League when it comes to attacking crosses, and in Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha he will have plenty of service with the Eagles.