Rafa Benitez’s Everton look to end their three match losing streak as the Toffees welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Goodison Park.
Depending on results elsewhere, Everton could climb as high as sixth whereas Spurs can go fifth if Arsenal lose at home to Watford.
Team News
Lucas Digne is set to be available for Everton after missing their defeat at Wolves with a knock last weekend.
Yerry Mina (hamstring), Andre Gomes (calf), Abdoulaye Doucoure (foot) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (quad) remain ruled out.
Tottenham have no fresh injury concerns to report after Thursday’s Europa Conference League win over Vitesse as Bryan Gil (hamstring) and Ryan Sessegnon (fitness) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Everton have lost just one of their last five league meetings against Tottenham (W1, D3, L1).
- Tottenham are unbeaten in their last eight league visits to Goodison Park (W3, D5).
- Glyfi Sigurdsson and Harry Kane both scored three goals for Everton and Tottenham in two clashes at Goodison Park in all competitions last season.
- Anthony Gordon has been utilised as a substitute on five occasions in the Premier League this season, more than any other Everton player.
- Only one of Spurs’ last four permanent managers have lost their opening Premier League match in charge of the North London club – (W4, L1) – Andre Villas Boas lost 2-1 at Newcastle in August 2012.
Prediction
With three defeats on the bounce, Everton definitely are feeling the loss of Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin but finishing chances seems to be their biggest issue, on top of poor defending which was evident in how easily Wolves dominated the first half to get their win over the Toffees on Monday.
Tottenham meanwhile are still adapting to life under Antonio Conte but Thursday’s scrappy win over Vitesse however highlighted little progress defensively, especially after building a three goal lead which offers hope that Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are beginning to show improvement.
Defending however seems to be the link between both teams in terms of weakness so we should see a competitive clash, although Spurs do have a strong record here so I fancy them to get the win because Everton are currently very weak in terms of attacking quality.
Prediction: Everton 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Result: Everton 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur