Chris Sutton expects Everton to struggle at Arsenal without Dominic Calvert-Lewin through injury. He also believes Sean Dyche getting the striker back will be ‘crucial’ to their survival.
The Toffees travel to Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night to take on the Premier League leaders. Dyche oversaw a 1-0 win over the Gunners in his first match in charge of the Blues on February 4. But Everton lost Calvert-Lewin to a hamstring injury an hour into the match.
Dyche has confirmed that Calvert-Lewin will miss another game when Everton travel to the capital as he builds his fitness. The 25-year-old has now sat out 13 of his side’s 24 top-flight games so far this season following knee, hamstring and shoulder issues earlier in the term.
Calvert-Lewin’s latest hamstring injury will see him miss four fixtures should Everton travel to Arsenal without the striker. Dyche has overseen 2-0 defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa on either side of a 1-0 win over Leeds United during the 11-cap England forward’s absence.
Everton moved in front at home to Arsenal two minutes before Dyche had to take Calvert-Lewin off after his injury, as well. James Tarkowski headed Dwight McNeil’s corner to score the only goal of the game. While Calvert-Lewin has one goal across 11 league appearances.
Sutton hails Calvert-Lewin’s injury-free importance to Everton before facing Arsenal
Calvert-Lewin penned his sole goal for the season so far as Everton beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on October 22. The Goodison Park encounter also marked only the striker’s second of nine starts so far this term. He missed their first eight games due to a knee injury in pre-season.
It marked a frustrating start to the campaign for the striker having suffered from a string of issues last term, too. He missed 14 fixtures with a quadriceps injury from September up to January. Another quadriceps issue also later kept the attacker out of Frank Lampard’s side.
Now, Sutton believes Dyche getting Calvert-Lewin free of injury will be crucial to securing Everton’s Premier League safety. The Toffees will visit Arsenal on Wednesday sitting inside the relegation zone in 18th place. But they are only a point from safety through 24 games.
“Everton gave Aston Villa a decent game on Saturday but they fell back into the bottom three after being beaten,” Sutton wrote in his column for BBC Sport. “Their big issue is still that they are so short of firepower.
“I saw a tweet from BBC’s chief football writer Phil McNulty about how the Toffees failure to sign a striker last summer or in January could come back to haunt them, and it’s clear Dominic Calvert-Lewin will have a crucial part to play if they are going to stay up.
“I don’t even see Everton getting near the goal too often on Wednesday, though. Arsenal have bounced back superbly from their defeat to Manchester City with two wins from two tough away games, against Villa and then Leicester.”
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