Everton FC

Ancelotti ‘lucky’ to have Everton’s strikers

Carlo Ancelotti says he is ‘lucky’ to have Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Richarlison helped Everton remain in contention for a Champions League qualification spot by scoring in Thursday’s 1-0 victory over West Brom.

The Brazil international has now found the target in four consecutive outings while Calvert-Lewin’s return this season is now 18 goals in all competitions.

And Ancelotti admits that he and the Blues are blessed to have such a prolific front pairing at their disposal with both still leaving room for improvement.

He said: “We have two fantastic strikers for their age.

“They are really young, they can improve, they combine well together, they have different characteristics.

“It’s not easy to find these kinds of strikers, so I’m really pleased to be their manager.

“They have everything in their hands. They are modern strikers.

“They have everything – strong, fast, good without the ball, we couldn’t ask more, honestly. I’m a lucky man.”

The Everton manager also explained the decision to introduce Allan during the win at The Hawthorns despite aiming to rest him for Monday’s trip to Chelsea.

“Allan didn’t play for two months, so to give him two matches in three days was too much, so I preferred to give him a rest,” added Ancelotti.

“(Gylfi) Sigurdsson was exactly the same because he is not so young. He needs time [to recover]. I wanted to give him a bit of a rest.”