Richarlison has backed Everton to bounce back from their injury struggles and is confident Rafa Benitez can inspire the team to a successful season. The Blues have been rocked back by injuries to key personnel, including Richarlison himself, this campaign and have struggled to maintain a sense of rhythm due to frequent first-team changes. Richarlison returned from his one-month setback during the Blues’ disappointing home defeat to Watford and has no doubt that results will begin to improve as other members of the squad make their way back to full fitness.
Richarlison said: “It’s hard, isn’t it? We will always have ups and downs during the season. Also because we lost a lot of important players to injury. This made it a little difficult.
On the extended absence of team-mate Calvert-Lewin,
Richarlison added: “He’s an important player for our squad, for our team. Not only him but Yerry Mina, we also lost Doucoure. So they are important players that are missed at any team. I think when they get back, the team will get better. But we have to know how to suffer too, we have to know how to bear it, get the three points without them, because here is a group and we have to be united for any difficulty.”
The Blues are currently on a run of five Premier League games without a win and face a difficult test away to Manchester City this weekend. Poor results of late has left manager Rafa Benitez open to criticism, but Richarlison has maintained that the 61-year-old has ‘everything’ required to enable the team to flourish this term.
Richarlison said: “Rafa Benitez is a coach who’s been at many clubs, big clubs, and we are here to learn from him too. He’s an experienced guy, just like Ancelotti. So we’re here to learn from him. I’m going to learn as much as possible from him because it’s important to my career. Many other athletes also get advice from him because it’s good. So I think he has everything to help us achieve our goals during the season.”
