Winger Yannick Bolasie returned to Everton training this week after 11 months out.
The DR Congo international has not played since suffering cruciate knee ligament damage in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United last December.
In his absence, Everton have sunk to 16th in the Premier League table and their attack has badly missed his pace and trickery.
The Toffees have been very predictable going forward this season and have had nobody to take the game to the opposition in the final third.
They attempt fewer dribbles per match – 5.8 – than any other team in the Premier League.
This is a significant decrease from the start of last campaign when Bolasie made 15 appearances before getting injured – Everton ranked eighth in the division with 10.6 dribbles per match.
While Everton’s blunt attack this season can largely be attributed to their failure to replace Romelu Lukaku, this drop off shows that Bolasie’s ability to run at defenders has also been sorely missed.
With the Toffees squad clogged up with No.10s, Bolasie will offer them some much-needed variety when he returns to action.
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