Salomon Rondon or Ellis Simms: who will replace suspended Richarlison for Everton against Brentford?

It’s a suspension that Everton could really do without.

But the Toffees are left to suffer the ramifications of Richarlison’s fifth booking of the season.

The Brazilian’s yellow card for a rash challenge in Sunday’s 3-0 loss at Manchester City means he must sit out one game.

It means Everton will travel to Brentford without Richarlison as their problems mount up.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin hasn’t featured since the third game of the season because of a quad injury and won’t return for another couple of weeks.

And with Demarai Gray also limping off at City with what appeared to be a groin issue, Rafa Benitez is seriously lacking attacking options.

The Blues boss will be forced to reshuffle his pack and it’ll be interesting who he opts for to spearhead the front line.

Benitez has several players who he could turn to against the Bees - but there are pros and cons to each.

Salomon Rondon

The Venezuela international is the likeliest candidate to replace Richarlison.

That'll be much to fans' frustration given Rondon's sluggish start to his Goodison career and he’s even been linked with a January exit.

The 32-year-old is still to score for the Blues in nine matches and his performances left a lot to be desired when Richarlison was absent with a knee injury.

However, Rondon eschewed going away with his country during the international break to work on his fitness at Finch Farm.

That's something he'd been lacking after having no pre-season training and arriving at Everton on transfer deadline day.

He also has plenty of Premier League experience and that’ll be needed against a Brentford side who’re surprising a few people following their promotion from the Championship.

Speaking after the City loss, Benitez insisted he had every confidence in Rondon.

We await to see if that'll be the case.

Cenk Tosun

A potential January exit for the Turkey international is very much on the cards.

But if he is to depart, with a return to Besiktas heavily mooted, could he do one final job in royal blue?

The £27 million signing has failed up to live up to that price tag almost four years ago. Things just haven't worked out for Tosun on Merseyside.

Since returning to fitness after a second serious knee injury he suffered on loan at Besiktas, Tosun has been on the bench three times.

However, Benitez has shown no indication of handing the 30-year-old an outing. Even when needing goals when behind at City, Tosun was left unused.

That implies that he again will find himself among the substitutes.

If Tosun is to be offloaded in January and free up some funds, Everton may be cautious of risking Tosun sustaining another setback.

Ellis Simms

The youngster is highly regarded at Goodison and was rewarded with a new three-year contract last week.

Yet he still waits for his Everton debut and was also unrequired at the Etihad.

Even still, there is plenty of excitement about Simms given his loan spell at Blackpool last season.

Given it was his maiden taste of senior football, the 20-year-old thrived.

In total, Simms plundered 10 goals in 24 games for the Seasiders. He was a key reason why Neil Critchley's side were promoted from League One and Simms would have been gutted to have missed the play-off final with a groin injury.

That setback kept Simms out for the opening few months of the season and he's had to get up to speed.

But now fully fit, clamour is beginning to grow from supporters for the former Manchester City marksman to be handed a chance.

The argument is he can do no worse but his inexperience would be a worry.

Lewis Dobbin

Like Simms, there are high hopes for Dobbin at Goodison.

The 18-year-old scored three hat-tricks during pre-season for the under-23s, which whet the appetite of supporters.

Dobbin's also appeared off the bench twice for Everton this season against Norwich and Manchester United.

However, the teenager's been left out of the past three match-day squads but has been on duty for the under-23s.

He might make the bench but a full debut appears improbable.