Everton have their toughest game of the season so far on Saturday as they go to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal – and David Moyes should strongly consider starting Charly Alcaraz.

There was disappointment at the weekend as the Toffees saw their unbeaten run fall against Chelsea. Pedro Neto struck twice for the visitors, with Everton giving a pretty tepid performance at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

When Charly Alcaraz stung Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium

We know that Brennan Johnson and Tyrique George are options to play through the middle. But Charly Alcaraz also has previous experience of playing up top – and he’s actually hurt Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium before.

In 2023, he started up top for Southampton against the Gunners, and made a huge impact on the game. He opened the scoring after just a minute, intercepting a poor pass from Aaron Ramsdale before firing into the far corner. It was good awareness from the Argentine, and the finish wasn’t half-bad either.

Southampton then made it two, with Alcaraz involved again. Arsenal turned the ball over in the middle of the pitch, and the ball was then played to Alcaraz who had dropped between the Arsenal defence and midfield.

Showing excellent vision, he played a perfect pass inside Gabriel to find Theo Walcott, who made no mistake with the finish.

Not content with being a thorn in Arsenal’s side in the final third, Alcaraz also made a goalline clearance. Strangely, Alcaraz was actually then substituted at half-time, with manager Ruben Selles withdrawing him as he was on a yellow card and he needed to make a tactical change.

Alcaraz must start for Everton at Arsenal

So he’s already shown he can be a threat against Arsenal at the Emirates and David Moyes ought to strongly consider starting him on Saturday.

He’ll be champing at the bit to play, having lacked minutes so far this term. His brilliant finish against Wolves in the Carabao Cup had plenty of people talking, and this really could be his ideal opportunity, factoring in that impactful display for Southampton in 2023.

Barry is Everton’s only striker, but the Frenchman has missed a fair few chances. If Moyes doesn’t want to drop him, then perhaps he could make Alcaraz his partner.

It’s not something we see very often. But potentially it’s something that could work down in north London, although it would require Moyes to drop one of his midfielders.