Everton are back in Premier League action today with an early afternoon kick-off against Aston Villa at Goodison Park in what will be Duncan Ferguson's first game in charge of the team since he was appointed as caretaker manager following the sacking of Rafael Benitez after their disheartening 2-1 defeat against Norwich City at Carrow Road last weekend.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which players Ferguson could pick to be in his starting XI to take on Steven Gerrard's side, one Toffees player who did not start against Norwich but we feel should be in the team from the outset on this occasion is Richarlison, who is currently on £110k-per-week according to Salary Sport.

After coming on with 54 minutes on the clock against Norwich, the 24-year-old not only managed to pull a goal back for the visitors with a brilliant bicycle-kick goal, he also completed two of his three dribbles and completed 11 of his 12 passes and won four duels, showing how much of an attacking threat he was for Everton and how much of a nuisance he was for the opposition.

This cameo performance earned the Brazilian an overall match rating of 7.3/10, making him Everton's highest-rated player on the day according to SofaScore, highlighting the quality he has and showing the sort of impact he can have on the team.

With this in mind and the 24-year-old having 46 goals in 131 appearances for Everton across all competitions, it shows why having him in the starting XI to take on Villa would give Ferguson a great chance of getting his tenure off to a flying start, especially if they can pick up all three points.

Richarlison's attacking talents have been praised in the past by former Toffees manager Carlo Ancelotti, who has previously hailed the Brazilian as "outstanding" in February 2020.

In terms of who could make way for the Brazilian if Ferguson decides to start him today, Salomon Rondon has only scored one goal in 13 Premier League appearances and register just one shot at goal in the defeat at Norwich, so perhaps he should be the one to drop out on this occasion.

Looking ahead to today's game, if Ferguson can secure a win for his beloved Everton, this would surely be a massive boost for the club by moving away from the relegation zone and pulling to within just one point of Gerrard's men in the table.

In other news: Everton must avoid another manager disaster with "arrogant" 58 y/o, he'd be Rafa 2.0