Top four chasing Everton welcome Southampton to Goodison Park in Monday Night Football.
Victory would see Everton stay seventh but move to within two points of fourth-placed West Ham, whilst a win would lift Southampton above Crystal Palace into 13th position in the table.
Team News
Yerry Mina remains ruled out for Everton with a calf injury that forced him to sit out their Merseyside derby win over Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.
Jean-Philippe Gbamin (Achilles) remains a long-term absentee although he is close to making a first-team return in coming weeks.
Southampton could be without Takumi Minamino due to a hamstring injury.
Oriol Romeu is out for rest of season with an ankle injury and joins Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring), Ibrahima Diallo (muscle), Will Smallbone (knee), Michael Obafemi (unspecified) and Theo Walcott (tendon) on the sidelines.
Stat Attack
- Everton have lost just two of their last six league meetings against Southampton (W2, D2, L2).
- Southampton are winless in their last 15 league trips to Goodison Park (D5, L10), with four of those five draws finishing in 1-1 results.
- Toffees’ Richarlison has scored two goals in three home appearances against Southampton in all competitions.
- Southampton have conceded first in each of their last five away league matches.
- Both teams have scored in seven of their last eight meetings across all competitions.
Prediction
Everton enter this match off the back of a huge result at Anfield last weekend with a strong all-round performance across the pitch, but they really must win here to boost their top four hopes after results elsewhere this weekend.
Southampton meanwhile put in two contrasting performances last weekend because they were clinical against Chelsea last Saturday, yet were totally ripped apart defensively at Leeds on Tuesday so it is tough to predict which Southampton team could turn up.
I however feel that if Everton turn up and deliver another impressive all-round display then this could be an one-sided result, otherwise Southampton could well nick a point if their defence holds out but Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees defence could just be that bit better.
Prediction: Everton 2-1 Southampton
Result: Everton 1-0 Southampton
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