Superstar returns from injury for Brighton against Everton.

 

 

Estupinan has been out with a thigh injury since the 6-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on 30 September.

It had been suggested that he was close to a return for recent games, but the Ecuadorian has not recovered, and De Zerbi revealed at a news conference on Friday that he will not play against Everton on Saturday.

Lamptey, on the other hand, has healed from a muscle injury and is available at Goodison Park.

The 23-year-old has not featured since a Europa League appearance in Marseille on 5 October, but he hopes to be back in the lineup this weekend.

Solly March is a long-term absence for the Seagulls, out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

 

 

Brighton have had a bad run of results, with two draws and two defeats in their previous four games, despite the fact that they have played Villa, Liverpool, and Manchester City.

De Zerbi wants to see a better performance from Everton, particularly in defense.

‘I’m not happy with our performances, or they’re not good enough,’ he admitted. ‘There are numerous causes. We are giving up far too many goals. We must do better.’

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Sean Dyche should be ‘extremely upset’ at what transpired in Everton’s match against Brighton, according to a BBC Sport expert.

 

 

Barry Horne believes Sean Dyche will be “absolutely furious” with his Everton defense over Brighton’s disallowed Lewis Dunk goal at Goodison Park.

The former Toffees midfielder was speaking live on BBC Radio Merseyside’s coverage of the game on 4 November, when a tight offside call ruled out the Seagulls captain’s equalizer after a quarter-hour, following a VAR review.

In a troubling recurrence of past goals conceded this season, Dunk was left unmarked in the box from a right-wing free kick to volley home off the bar, and Horne hoped the manager would be screaming into his players over their “Achilles heel” to prevent it occurring again.

“That’s been Everton’s Achilles heel, hasn’t it?” Horne said (3.48pm). Even though it was ruled out, Sean Dyche will be, or at least I hope he will be, enraged.

 

 

“They’ve got lucky that Dunk’s made his run a little bit too early.”

“Sean Dyche will be really disappointed, yet again, to concede from that free kick,” he said at the break (3.51pm). That free kick was nothing extraordinary; it was just bad marking.”

In what was mostly a competent Everton performance in the first half of the 1-1 draw with a possession-heavy Brighton team, the fine work could have been undone by a set piece.

The disallowed goal was reminiscent of Carlton Morris’s strike for Luton Town on September 30, which was the club’s poorest result in a previous run of games.

It is a frightening back door to leave open for opposition to swing over a simple cross towards the far post and players can saunter into the box unmarked for a side that is increasingly becoming to embrace the Dyche ethos of tough defensive steel.

Vitalii Mykolenko, who scored the opening goal against Brighton, was chastised for Morris’ goal for Luton, and it may have been Ashley Young’s obligation to cover Dunk, but it is impossible to say who is to blame in each scenario.

It’s a problem that must be handled as a team, with James Tarkowski also in charge of organizing his back line to defend simple set pieces.

 

 

There is a lot to appreciate about Everton’s recent form, so it would be a great waste to toss away the positive advances in such an unnecessary manner, and Dyche is likely to be irritated about it, just as Horne implies.

Brighton’s equalizer came in very fortuitous form, looping over Jordan Pickford on a deflection from Ashley Young, and the manager would undoubtedly accept anything like that from his side over the goal they escaped earlier in the game.