{"id":330073,"date":"2025-12-22T16:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/330073\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T16:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:56:09","slug":"loads-to-come-everton-midfielder-plans-to-make-a-statement-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/330073\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Loads to come’ – Everton midfielder plans to make a statement in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Iroegbunam wants to pile the pressure on those in front of him by performing well amid the absence of midfield rivals\"TimTim Iroegbunam plays during the Premier League match between Everton and Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Mike Morese\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tim Iroegbunam is aiming to convince David Moyes he should be in his first choice XI as he attempts to take advantage of the Blues boss\u2019 selection issues.<\/p>\n

Everton<\/a> currently have a depleted squad with a number of key players missing – including some of Iroegbunam\u2019s competition in central midfield. Idrissa Gueye is with his Everton and Senegal teammate at the Africa Cup of Nations and will not return until the new year, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is dealing with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Those absences represent an opportunity for the 22-year-old – one he says he is determined to exploit.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sky Sports pundits disagree over Everton penalty claim against Arsenal – ‘Clear to see’<\/a>READ MORE: Harrison Armstrong latest as Preston chiefs acknowledge starlet could return to Everton<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking after he played 90 minutes in Everton\u2019s narrow defeat to Arsenal, the former Aston Villa player said: \u201cI always look up to Idrissa, but I’m hoping I can show what I can so that when he comes back, I’m giving the gaffer a reason to not put him straight back in. That’s on me. That’s my opportunity. I\u2019ve just got to go and grab it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iroegbunam has impressed in recent outings<\/a> that have been a consequence of Gueye\u2019s absence – first for three games following his red card at Manchester United and then on Saturday, the first of up to seven matches he and Ndiaye could miss if Senegal – one of the tournament favourites – were to reach the final.<\/p>\n

While he struggled in the home defeat to Newcastle United, getting replaced at half-time, he returned to play a pivotal role in Everton\u2019s first Premier League<\/a> win at Bournemouth. He was good again against the Gunners, making more than twice as many tackles as anyone else in the match (seven) and winning six of them.<\/p>\n

Iroegbunam told Everton\u2019s club medi<\/a>a: \u201cI worked hard, put in good tackles, carried the team forwards at some points. Obviously, I wouldn’t say it was a perfect performance. I’ve been in and out of the team. I missed the [Nottingham Forest] game because I had five yellow cards. I feel like today I did a quite-decent job. There’s still loads to come, but I feel like It’s definitely a performance to bounce on from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iroegbunam will face competition as Merlin Rohl returns to contention – the Germany youth international made his first appearance since surgery on a hernia issue when he came off the bench against Arsenal. But Rohl has struggled for sustained fitness and may be required elsewhere in the line-up depending on injuries and suspensions. James Garner is also just one booking from a suspension, meaning Iroegbunam is likely to get more chances to impress.<\/p>\n

Moyes was certainly pleased with his work on Saturday night<\/a>. After the match, he said: \u201cI thought Tim played really well. He was up against probably the best midfield player in the world in some ways [Declan Rice], and he did a really good job. He stuck to it. We want him to do a lot of other things. We want him to pass forward more. We want him to be a bit more creative in his play at times, but the other side of his game, he’s been doing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tim Iroegbunam wants to pile the pressure on those in front of him by performing well amid the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2689,218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-330073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-everton-fc","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}