Jarrad Branthwaite has suggested what happened to one of his Everton teammates last week was incredibly important.
The 21-year-old has enjoyed the season of his career, thriving at the heart of Sean Dyche’s defence alongside James Tarkowski.
Branthwaite’s performances have seen rumours emerge about his future at Goodison Park, with some of Europe’s elite clubs reportedly interested.
The Cumbrian-born defender has been talking about his side’s recent fortunes and has highlighted something significant that happened last week.
Jarrad Branthwaite shares something really important that happened to Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Talking in a recent Q&A, Branthwaite highlighted the significance of Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal against Burnley last Saturday.
The 27-year-old chased down Arijanet Muric’s goal kick to secure a much-needed three points for Dyche’s side ahead of Monday’s trip to Chelsea.
Branthwaite shares how the £1.5million signing deserved his goal against the Clarets.
He said: “Yeah, it has. Got a nice lucky goal last weekend! He deserved that, though. As a striker, you take any goal you can get, especially with the run that he was on.
“He’s scored two in two now, so the confidence he’s got from that will be massive, and he can take that into the remaining games of the season.”
Dominic Calvert-Lewin must kick on between now and the end of the season
It’s imperative that Calvert-Lewin kicks on between now and the end of the season. His recent goals were fortunate, but that’s precisely what he needed.
On his day, he’s unplayable. Unfortunately, Evertonians haven’t seen it anywhere near enough.
Some commentators have suggested the striker should move onto pastures new to start afresh away from Goodison Park.
BBC Sport pundit Michael Brown said: “Calvert-Lewin has been at the club for such a long period of time, and he might be carrying around a little stigma about the situation and have a bit of pressure weighing on his shoulders. Maybe it does need a bit of support for him, or maybe he needs to go play his football somewhere else.”