Everton are back in action tonight, but divert their attention from their fine Premier League run and instead change focus to the EFL Cup.
It is a competition that the club have never won in their 145-year history, and marks a fine opportunity to end their silverware hoodoo which extends back to 1995.
A catastrophic run for a club of such stature, to brush aside Fulham tonight would be to enter any cup semi-final for the first time since Roberto Martinez led them to two in 2016.
However, whilst Sean Dyche will be placing full focus on achieving such a goal, he too will be wary of the fixture pile-up that is arriving. After tonight’s clash, a trip to Tottenham Hotspur looms, before they face Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers all in the space of one week.
Therefore, some kind of rotation is in order, with the Cottagers arguably posing the easiest challenge on paper of those four fixtures.
As such, there is arguably no greater opportunity than now to hand Arnaut Danjuma one more chance to make a difference from the start, especially with Abdoulaye Doucoure‘s expected absence.
How good is Everton star Arnaut Danjuma?
Having finally made the Everton switch after the January debacle which saw him choose Spurs over the managerless Toffees, it was expected that the Dutch forward would come in and act as a heroic talisman to lead them to safety.
Well, it has since been discovered that his form has no correlation to their ability to stay up, with Dyche’s men doing just fine without him.
The on-loan Villarreal ace has been reduced to a number of cameo appearances of late in the Premier League, with just three starts to his name, yet he does boast a sole goal in the division.
However, his form elsewhere in recent years should be enough to suggest that, should Dyche find the right role for him, he can unearth a top talent.
After all, during the 2021/22 campaign in which he scored 16 and assisted four across all competitions, the 26-year-old was a mainstay for Unai Emery as his side reached the Champions League semi-finals.
It should come as no surprise that the £52k-a-week ace was therefore branded a ‘nightmare for defenders’ by pundit Kevin Phillips, with potential that he could prove this notion again against the Cottagers.
Tonight marks a huge chance, both for Everton to reach that latter stages in the EFL Cup, and for Danjuma to ignite his career on Merseyside.
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox
