£20m Everton player sends subtle message to David Moyes over his best position

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Everton fell to another defeat in the Premier League on Saturday, this time against Chelsea.

Stamford Bridge continue to be an unhappy hunting ground for David Moyes, who has not won there now as a manager in 20 attempts.

Nicolas Jackson scored the only goal of the game, capitalising after some poor hold-up play from Beto.

Beto turned the ball over in a midfield position, with Enzo Fernandez then finding the striker to score.

Everton might have taken a point but for some good saves from Robert Sanchez.

But it’s back-to-back defeats now for Everton, and Moyes will be looking for response in next weekend’s game against already relegated Ipswich Town.

As always, the starting XI will be interesting, and it will be especially intriguing to see where Dwight McNeil plays if he starts.

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Dwight McNeil sends subtle message to David Moyes over his position

2025 has been frustrating for McNeil.

He unfortunately suffered a knee injury in December, which put him on the sidelines for four months.

McNeil returned to match action a couple of weeks ago for Everton against Arsenal, and has made a further three appearances after that.

Despite Moyes hinting was going to start McNeil against Chelsea, he has still yet to do so, and Evertonians will hope he’ll be ready to do it soon.

Because before his injury, McNeil was showing himself to be a source of creativity, which has been badly missed.

Even against Nottingham Forest, Everton fans hailed McNeil for the difference he made. He had provided a brilliant assist for Abdoulaye Doucoure to score an injury-time winner.

Against Chelsea, McNeil was given around half an hour, but operated from the right side and after the game, the star dropped a subtle hint to Moyes.

He said: “It was my first serious injury and it was really difficult to not be involved, especially when I was doing well, playing inside, before I got injured, contributing goals and assists. Now I just want to get my fitness up and try and have a chance to get back on the team.

“It’s been a tough season. But before getting injured I think I was playing well, playing inside where I want to play and impacting games.”

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Moyes must use McNeil centrally again for Everton

McNeil did also suggest that is happy to help the team just so long as he’s on the pitch.

But it’s clear from this message where McNeil wants to play – and Moyes ought to grant McNeil his wish.

McNeil is not particularly fast. And he is also fairly one-footed. So these things do not suggest him as being an effective inverted winger.

£20 million signing McNeil (BBC Sport) is, however, very technical which means he’s good in tight spaces.

We saw before his injury that he was making things happen for Everton in central positions, and Moyes surely has to play him in that position in these final games with a view to doing that regularly next season.

The issue for the attacker is that Moyes has a number of options for the position, including Abdoulaye Doucoure, Carlos Alcaraz and even Iliman Ndiaye.