The £30m Everton ‘liability’ who Sean Dyche must now drop v Crystal Palace

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Everton opens up their FA Cup campaign this evening against Crystal Palace and there is one player who must be dropped.

Sean Dyche will be desperate to put an end to his side’s poor run of form which has seen them go on a four-game losing streak.

Everton has gone from a winning run to a losing run in December which means something now needs to be changed.

One option for Dyche to modify is to revert to a back four which brought him and his side such success in early December.

This is a move however which would be unfortunate for one man as Dyche would likely drop him in order to make it happen.

So here’s why Dyche should drop Michael Keane…

Sean Dyche should drop Michael Keane vs Crystal Palace

Keane – who cost Everton a whopping £30m in 2017 – has been a regular fixture in the Everton line-up over the past five games in particular after spending much of the season on the fringes.

He entered the side against Burnley in the wake of Jarrad Branthwaite‘s absence and immediately established himself with a strong goal-scoring display which earned an 8.1 match rating from SofaScore.

But this top form was short-lived as Everton has lost every subsequent match with Keane failing to perform to the level he showed against the Clarets.

This has included an own goal against Fulham in Everton’s Carabao Cup exit last month and then back-to-back howlers against Manchester City and then Wolves last weekend in which he scored match ratings of 6.4 and 6.3 respectively on SofaScore.

For these reasons, Dyche needs to drop Keane and revert to a centre-half duo as opposed to a trio with Branthwaite and James Tarkowski both showing this season they’re better when that’s the case.

Wins over Chelsea and Newcastle United came with this system and it’s about time Dyche reverts back to it.

Keane was ripped to shreds by Wolves

Last week, Wolves absolutely battered Everton in what was a sorry display for Dyche’s side. In this defeat, Keane was withdrawn after playing 63 minutes.

He was dribbled past three times in the defeat as he lost possession 10 times while winning just two of six ground duels as per SofaScore.

Wolves’ pacy running was too much for him and against Palace, he could face the same problem.

Brazilian whizkid Matheus Franca could be due his first start for Palace which could be a daunting task for Keane however Michael Olise’s injury will ease concerns.

Either way – Dyche needs to drop Keane for this game.