Sean Dyche namechecked Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti as he discussed potential solutions to forward problems
Everton are increasingly looking to the return of injured strikers Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti as the club fights to solve its goalscoring problems.
Both are making progress in their recovery schedules with Broja expected to feature for Everton’s Under-21s on Monday night. They were each namechecked by Sean Dyche as potential boosts on the horizon.
The Blues were unable to find a breakthrough against 10-man Brentford as the sides played out a goalless draw at Goodison Park on Saturday. It was the away side’s first point away from home and first clean sheet of the Premier League season.
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Everton have now gone three consecutive matches without a goal, despite having played against three of the most porous defences in that time.
With just 10 goals from 12 matches, only bottom of the table Southampton have scored fewer while the tally is the same as that of second-bottom Crystal Palace.
Sean Dyche experimented as he sought a way through Brentford after Thomas Frank’s side had captain Christian Norgaard sent off for a lunge on Jordan Pickford just before the break.
He moved Iliman Ndiaye, who has spent this season on the left, into a central role for a period of the game and later introduced Beto alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin as he moved to playing two up top.
Neither move enabled Everton to find a breakthrough though.
After the match, when asked by the ECHO about the goalscoring issue, Dyche said it had been a problem since before he arrived on Merseyside in January 2023. Asked whether, considering he was yet to find the answer, he believed he could do so, Dyche pointed to two players yet to feature this season as part of his hope of reaching a solution.
Dyche said: “Well, it’s been a longstanding thing here [struggling to score goals]. So, you know, how we find that… most managers do that by checkbook. We can’t do that. So therefore, the development continues. That is what we’re looking to do, remind players of their skillset, on their strengths and working towards them. We don’t know – we will wait and see about the continued development of Youssef [Chermiti] when he gets fit, but he’s a bit away yet. We have AB (Armando Broja] coming in as well. We’ll see what he’s got to offer. I think that adds to the mix. I’ve been trying to find different ways of operating. I’ve tried four or five different ways of operating today to open up what is a packed box.”
Chermiti enjoyed a strong start to pre-season before suffering a foot injury that required surgery. Broja was signed on loan from Chelsea on transfer deadline day and is now in the final stages of overcoming the achilles problem he arrived with.
Having trained with the first team last week, Dyche said post-Brentford that Broja was set to step up his comeback programme with Everton Under-21s at Watford on Monday night. He said: “He will get some football, that will be his startpoint, on Monday.”
Chermiti took a big step forward in training last week but he is further away from a return than Broja, who could join the first team matchday squad in the coming weeks.
