Southampton: Richarlison expected to be fit against Saints
By Chris Hughes
After being subbed off on his debut against Wolves, Richarlison is now expected to be fit for Everton’s meeting with Southampton this weekend.
The Toffees turned a lot of heads when they spent a whopping £35 million on Watford’s Richarlison, despite the fact that he hadn’t scored or assisted a goal in the entirety of 2018.
However, the Brazilian scored twice at the weekend, as Wolves came from behind twice to force a 2-2 with Marco Silva’s men. Richarlison was brought off after 86 minutes with a suspected knock and was replaced by Lucas Digne, however Sky Sports now understands that the former will be available for this weekend’s game against the Saints.
The 21-year-old’s second goal against Wolves was particularly impressive and he’s expected to be one of Everton’s key players this season, meaning the Toffees will be significantly stronger for their first home game of the campaign with him in the starting XI.
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Southampton drew their opening game themselves, with it being a stalemate between them and Burnley at St. Mary’s. The Saints have been handed a respectable start to the campaign, and will want to make the most of the opportunity before they face Liverpool in around a month’s time.
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However, supporters were happy with the performance they saw from their players in particular Alex McCarthy and Nathan Redmond, whilst all four new boys who featured impressed as well.
Everton have recruited well this summer too with three of their recruits coming from Barcelona alone, with the pick of the bunch being World Cup star Yerry Mina. The only issue for Marco Silva now is blending their variety of attacking talents, with Cenk Tosun, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott all yet to kick on.
However Richarlison remains their most expensive buy of 2018 and as a result he’ll be Silva’s main man this season – after all, the Portuguese manager brought the winger from his native Brazil to Watford last season.
Cedric will have a tough job on his hands if he starts the match at Goodison Park this Saturday, although after the success Southampton had in the second half against Burnley, Mark Hughes may stick with a 4-4-2 with a more-defensive Jack Stephens at right-back.