Carlo Ancelotti has overseen two wins in charge of new side Everton, and he will be hoping to extend his unbeaten start when the Toffees face Manchester City on New Year’s Day. During his opening two games, the Italian manager has trialled a back five and a back four, but due to the hectic schedule, he is yet to give fans any indication of what his starting eleven will look like heading forwards.
One area in which he made multiple changes was defence and it will be interesting to see who he selects against the Premier League champions.
Mason Holgate has started both of the three-time Champions League winner’s opening fixtures and could yet feature again. Out of Everton’s centre backs, the 23-year-old has made the most tackles per game, averaging 1.6 in his 13 appearances. Meanwhile, rivals in defence Yerry Mina and Michael Keane have made 1.4 and 1.1 respectively. Though with regards to interceptions Holgate has made the fewest of the trio, registering one per 90 minutes of action, relative to Mina’s 1.2 and Keane’s 1.3.
When it comes to conceding fouls, it is difficult to split the trio who all average one every other game or more. But where Mina shines is in making clearances, surprising from a player formerly on Barcelona’s books. The Columbian has, on average, recorded 4.1 clearances per 90 minutes of action on the pitch, the best of any Everton player, though Keane and Holgate are not far behind; second and third on the list respectively.
In possession Mina is the most reliable of the trio, his Spanish education has served him well as he averages 46.1 passes per match, with only Fabian Delph having more. The Colombian also has an extraordinarily high completion rate of 83 per cent. Keane is not too far behind making 40.6 passes per game with an 80 per cent success rate on average. But Holgate is by far the least trustworthy in possession.
Ancelotti is yet to start Mina and Keane alongside one another during his tenure so far, but he might be wise to do so against Manchester City. Equally, if he is worried about mobility, then he could opt for a back five as he did against Burnley and use all three centre backs at his disposal.
