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This article is part of Football FanCast's Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers...

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas wrote in his pre-match Watford prediction that he expects Everton to be "weak at the back" this season, and his comments only highlight where the Toffees went wrong during the summer transfer window.

What did he say?

Well, the Scot appears pretty uncertain what to expect from the Merseyside outfit in 2019/20 with their squad, but he made a general statement about how he sees their performances on the pitch panning out prior to their clash against the Hornets.

Nicholas told Sky Sports: "They went big in the market and invested up front. Have they got strikers yet? Is there anything in there that could spark them into life?

"They have given the manager every resource he could get. Where are they going to play Alex Iwobi? I see a team that is going to be creative but weak at the back."

Everton added Andre Gomes, Jonas Lossl, Djibril Sidibe, Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Alex Iwobi and Moise Kean to their squad before the deadline earlier this month.

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Nicholas' comments ring true

Everton may have kept a clean sheet in their opening Premier League match of the campaign against Crystal Palace, but it doesn't mean that the Sky Sports pundit's fears won't be realised moving forward.

The Toffees only have Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate to pick from as senior centre-back options, with the versatile Gbamin potentially able to drop back if needed.

Mina impressed against the Eagles and drew plenty of praise from supporters on Twitter for his display, but he only made 13 top flight appearances last term having suffered a number of injury issues.

It is clearly a risk to rely on him in that regard, but that is what the Merseyside outfit have to do given they failed to bring in another centre-back before the window slammed shut.

They wanted to bring Kurt Zouma back following his successful loan spell in 2018/19, but according to The Daily Mail Frank Lampard announced his intentions to keep the Frenchman at Stamford Bridge.

At that point they really needed to find an alternative, but they failed to and they could easily find themselves in a bit of trouble unless Keane and Mina manage to be almost superhuman between now and the New Year.

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