Everton were defeated at Goodison Park on Wednesday evening, David Moyes’ return spoiled by poor finishing and a lack of control.
Aston Villa claimed a 1-0 victory through Ollie Watkins’ strike, condemning Everton to a third straight Premier League defeat. The Blues have also blanked across five of the past six top-flight matches.
Moyes will of course know that he has a massive task in front of him; he will be under no illusions about Everton’s issues and the importance of fixing the attacking problems that have blunted the Merseysiders’ blade.
But the lack of confidence and genuine creative quality are glaring concerns. It goes without saying that the new owners, The Friedkin Group, need to authorise a first-team signing before January is up.
More Everton misery up front
Away from the on-field issues, Everton’s depth has been cruelly damaged through Armando Broja’s prognosis after the on-loan Chelsea forward injured his ankle in the FA Cup against Peterborough, resulting in an expected three-month layoff.
It heightens the need for a new striker, especially since Dominic Calvert-Lewin is still producing such abject results as Everton’s chief centre-forward.
If the match against Villa served as an audition, Calvert-Lewin failed miserably. That’s now 16 Premier League matches in succession without a goal or an assist for an outfit struggling against the tractor pull of the relegation zone.
Moyes’ saving grace will centre around his side’s aggression and desire, creating three big chances to Villa’s four, as per Sofascore.
Calvert-Lewin squandered two of those chances. Out of contract at the end of the season, he’s got to be replaced.
Everton looking at Calvert-Lewin replacement
As per The Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel, Everton are in the race for Leicester City striker Tom Cannon, who earned his stripes with the Finch Farm academy before leaving in September 2023.
With a reported £10m price tag, Everton would need to swallow some pride in bringing Cannon back to the fold, but really this is an affordable figure for a rising star at the season’s midpoint.
The Foxes recently recalled Cannon from his successful loan spell with Stoke City in the Championship as they look to profit from his upsurged performances. Given that the bulk of the competition stems from the second tier, Everton might feel they can triumph in engineering a reunion.
Why Everton should sign Tom Cannon
Cannon only made three first-team appearances for Everton before being sold to Leicester in a deal worth roughly £7.5m. He’d previously impressed during a loan stint with Preston North End but Sean Dyche didn’t view the young star as the solution up front. If only he did.
The aptly-named number nine has hit a rich vein of goalscoring form with Stoke this season, bagging nine goals from 22 matches, including an incredible four-goal haul against Portsmouth at the start of October, leading Potters correspondent Pete Smith to hail the “insane” effort.
An active and intelligent player, Cannon’s ball-striking ability allows him to rifle shots past goalkeepers, using his movement and pace to shimmy into openings, into gaps between the lines.
A loping gait and charged confidence from his performances at the Bet 365 Stadium could be exactly what Moyes needs to front his system, for Cannon has only missed nine big chances – the same as his goal tally – across the 2024/25 Championship campaign, as per Sofascore, also averaging 0.5 key passes and 4.4 successful duels per game.
Calvert-Lewin, conversely, has missed 11 big chances in the Premier League this term, though the 27-year-old, of course, has only scored two goals.
What to do? One thing’s for certain: Everton cannot afford to emerge from the January transfer market without fresh quality at number nine.
15.
Man United
23
15=
Crystal Palace
23
15=
Leicester
23
18.
Ipswich
20
19.
Everton
15
20.
Southampton
12
Lest we forget that 17th-placed Ipswich Town host Brighton & Hove Albion tonight and a victory would knock Everton closer toward the precipice, dangerously so.
There are mitigating circumstances (there always are). Dwight McNeil has missed the past six matches with a knee injury and his playmaking quality has been sorely missed. He’s created nine big chances from 13 top-flight fixtures this year, averaging an impressive 2.5 key passes per game. Still, ‘DCL’ has toiled to no avail.
A younger and more dynamic striker in Cannon could be the solution – and one who knows the club at that. The 5 foot 11 ace ranks among the top 19% of centre-forwards competing in the Championship this season for clearances and the top 14% for aerial duels won per 90, as per FBref.
That latter metric likely makes for the most compelling reading. Calvert-Lewin, for all his faults, is a monstrous focal point in the air, with former teammate Richarlison once even claiming “he has an incredible leap on him, Like Cristiano Ronaldo.”
It’s more than a little food for thought, right? Everton have a strong defensive base and an industrious unit operating under an industrious manager who will hopefully expand the outfit’s horizons over the coming months.
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But Calvert-Lewin cannot be allowed to continue to fester in the final third, and with Broja ruled out and potentially called back to Stamford Bridge, Cannon could be the one to fire Everton back into the limelight.
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