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…

BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks has included Everton's weekend hero Tom Davies in his team of the week column and stated that midfielder will be a "relief" to the under-pressure Marco Silva.

What did he say?

Davies put in a great performance against Southampton at the weekend, and the academy graduate's Man of the Match display earned the Toffees their first away win of the season.

In the wake of the injury to Andre Gomes, Silva was in need of a man to step up in the upcoming crucial fixtures. Now, with another vital clash against Norwich City up next, Crooks believes the Toffees boss finally has a man he can rely on.

The pundit wrote for BBC Sport: "In the absence of Andre Gomes, the abilities of Tom Davies in midfield have become even more important to Everton.

"What a relief it must have been then for the beleaguered Marco Silva, who for some reason is still under pressure at Goodison Park, that Davies was quite outstanding at Southampton."

In a time of need

It was bad enough for Silva watching his team fall perilously close to the relegation zone, even with Gomes in the side. And when one of his star players suffered a horrific injury it looked like nothing could go right for the Everton boss.

However, in the wake of Gomes' absence, Silva will indeed be relieved to see Davies step up so sharply. After losing the former Barcelona man, there was going to be a big gap in the midfield to fill, which surely would have worried Silva and the Toffees faithful.

It was a brilliant display by Davies and the midfielder was one of the main men amongst the impressive win over Southampton. The 22-year-old netted his first goal of the season to give the Blues the lead and he helped control the game from there on out, as Everton racked up 24 shots.

Now is the time for the academy graduate to step up and it has come at a vital time in Silva's Everton career.