The Gameweek 24 investigation continues with Brighton and Hove Albion 1-1 Everton.
FOUR MIDDLE HALVES, MOYESY? THAT’S INSANE
The big question about Everton team news at Saturday’s deadline concerned the centre-backs. Of Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.3m) back from injury, Michael Keane (£4.7 million) available after suspension, and Jake O’Brien (£4.9 million) and James Tarkowski (£5.8m) centre-back in recent matches, who would David Moyes choose?
The answer? All.
Branthwaite and O’Brien were his full-backs Nathan Patterson (£4.4 million) fall into the bank and Vitali Mykolenko (£4.9m) absent.
With Keane’s xMins not as dented by Branthwaite’s return as expected, is this the way forward?
Not necessarily. According to Moyes, operating with four centre-halves wasn’t the original plan and Mykolenko’s injury-related absence changed the format.
“I always had it in my head that it would be there [as an option]. You know, Pep does it too, right? He’s thought about it at various times now.
“It was different for us. It was an injury that made us make the switch. That was not the plan on Friday afternoon. Myko just suffered an injury during training, which changed everything.” – David Moyes on whether
Although Moyes would not say who would have missed had Mykolenko been fit, The bulge (who usually gives a reliable warning about Everton injuries, team news etc.) suggests it was Keane who would be among the substitutes.
David Moyes recalls Jarrad Branthwaite back in starting line-up after returning from injury. Michael Keane, who was supposed to be on the bench, has also been given a starting place, because Vitalli Mykolenko has been excluded. Jake O’Brien replaces Nathan Patterson 🔵 pic.twitter.com/GRdMsOycTr
— De Bobbel (@ElBobble) January 31, 2026
Furthermore, Moyes has not ruled out signing a right-back on deadline day, which would further cloud matters.
“We still feel we may need a right-back. Jarrad Branthwaite has been injured for almost six months, maybe longer. It meant he could easily fill in at left-back and I always had that in mind if we needed it. Or he could be the number one left-back if I could play better at centre-half. Michael Keane played really well at centre-back today. Played well again today and Jarrad went at left-back.”
“You lose a little bit because you might lose the [attacking] ability and that’s why we changed even late, we brought in Patterson, who got me two or three crosses in the box, while the others might not give me that ability. So there’s a bit of a balance and when you do these things as a manager, sometimes you have to take away something that they might offer in order to get something. [else]what we did.” – David Moyes on his back four
We have yet to hear how serious Mykolenko’s injury is.
DEWSBURY-HALL BACK IN THE XI – AND CLOSE TO THE POINT
It wasn’t just Branthwaite who returned to base, either Kiernan Dewsbury Hall (£4.9 million).
One of the most popular £5.0m midfielders before his injury in mid-December, this was his record before his hamstring pinged:
- Begins: 14
- Goals: 4
- Assists: 3
- Bonus points: 10
- DefCon points: 6
- Points per match: 5.3
Back in the ’10’ role at the Amex, he twice came very close to scoring, first sending an effort painfully wide from the edge of the penalty area before firing a glorious chance into the boot of Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) from eight metres.
One to add again to the budget midfielders watchlist, especially if Everton end up getting a Double Gameweek 26.
An even cheaper Everton midfielder made his fourth consecutive start in the form of Harrison Armstrong (£4.5m), although his playing time doesn’t look so assured.
James Garner (£5.2m), meanwhile, collected DefCon points for the eighth time in nine Gameweeks.
A FAIR RESULT?
This was a bit of an odd match at the Amex. Brighton made a blistering start with seven shots in the opening twenty minutes, before attempting another attempt until the 72nd minute!
In fact, Everton didn’t register their first try of the match until the second half, so there were long periods of rest.
Danny Welbeck (£6.2 million)Pascal Gross (£5.5 million) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.1m) could all have scored early, but it was against the run of play as Gross broke the deadlock with 17 minutes of normal time remaining.
Gross played the more advanced ’10’ role for the second consecutive game. He has now also started four league games in a row.
Yankuba Minteh (£5.7m) has gone the other way; his last start came back in Gameweek 19. Fabian Hurzeler recently hinted that Albion are looking after his fitness.
Those two chances for Dewsbury-Hall, plus good chances for Tarkowski and Keane, meant a substitute Beto‘s (£5.0m) late equalizer was probably justified.
That’s now a total of six goals in as many Gameweeks from the two much-maligned Everton strikers!
#FPL #notes #DewsburyHall #threat #Keane #lucky #start