Everton have endured an eventful 2021.
The Toffees started the year with hopes of European football under Carlo Ancelotti but, despite the high of an Anfield derby win, they ended the season in 10th place.
Ancelotti's shock departure and Rafa Benitez's surprise arrival followed before a positive start to the season was followed by a run of seven without a victory.
But who have been Everton 's standout performers in that period?
This year marks just the second Fans’ Footballer of the Year award, with fans selecting from four nominees - chosen by our very own Everton correspondent Phil Kirkbride - to crown their team’s best footballer.
Agree with our shortlist? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
You can define ‘Footballer of the Year’ however you want. It might be your most important star. It could be the player who has moved you from your seat the most. Perhaps it is the one you simply cannot wait to see when you arrive at Goodison Park. Or maybe it is a man who goes above and beyond, not only on the pitch, but off it.
We asked Phil for his four nominees for the Liverpool Echo Everton Fans’ Footballer of the Year.
Here is what he said.
Jordan Pickford : 2021 may have started with a high-profile mistake against Leicester City at Goodison but the Everton goalkeeper has, arguably, never been more consistent since.
Having finished the season strongly with the Blues, Pickford took that form into the European Championships with England and was a big part of their journey to the final at Wembley.
Pickford has continued to be one of Everton's most dependable players this term and the 27-year-old was one of the first players Rafa Benitez called, after he took over from Carlo Ancelotti in the summer.
After ending 2020, and heading into the New Year, with intense scrutiny over his position as both Everton and England's No1, Pickford has performed to such a level that he has cemented himself in both.
Abdoulaye Doucoure: They say that a player can often become better when out of the side.
In the case of Abdoulaye Doucoure that is true. Already a hugely important player, his two absences with foot injuries in 2021 have only made him feel even more vital to Everton.
The Blues' European aspirations last season were impacted by the seven league games the midfielder missed because of a fractured foot during March, April and early May.
And, again, the positive start made by Benitez's Blues this season has significantly been affected by the three league matches - and counting - he has been ruled out for.
Used largely as a defensive midfielder under Ancelotti, Doucoure has been pushed further forward by Benitez and before his injury he had scored twice and laid on four assists.
Ben Godfrey: The effects of having COVID mean that the second-half of Godfrey's year with Everton is only getting started.
The defender missed the opening three league games of the season and has, only very recently, started to look like his old self as he rediscovers the form that earned him an England call-up in the summer.
Godfrey would miss out of the squad for the Euros but his performances for Everton, across the backline in his debut season at Goodison, caught the eye of Gareth Southgate.
Left-back, right-back and at centre-back, Godfrey had been excellent before illness struck and the hope is that the 23-year-old will finish 2021 how he started it.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 2021 has been a stop-start year for Everton's No9 but he remains one of the club's best performers.
The 24-year-old has scored 10 goals in the calendar year but missed 16 matches through injury and a sign of his intent to build on last season's haul of 21 came with three goals in the opening three games.
But then injury struck. Already hampered by a fractured toe, a thigh problem - and complications with his recovery - have kept him sidelined since late August.
Calvert-Lewin is aiming for a return to the side in December but given his set-back earlier in the season, Everton are reluctant to put an exact timeframe on his return.
But one thing is for certain, DCL's return can't come quick enough.
Now cast your vote here:
