AFC Bournemouth vs Everton

As Lyndon has pointed out, Bournemouth have been decimated by injuries. One player that has impressed me though, is Matt Ritchie. (No relation, as far as I know.) If we're to keep a clean sheet, we'd better keep him in check. He's their danger man.

Good match preview otherwise, COYB!

The only black cloud on the horizon is if the manager starts tinkering for no reason – please RM leave the team as is from last game if possible.

Our eventual best first team line-up is still under much debate. The present one suits me fine but I'm not sure it suits Martinez.

Down the right we are very solid with Stones, Coleman, McCarthy and Deulofeu. Down the left we have done very well with Funes Mori, Galloway, Barry and Kone but Martinez may prefer Jagielka, Baines. Barry and Cleverley. We'll just have to wait and see.

Also, With Mirallas, Naismith, Lennon, Besic. Gibson, Oviedo and Osman all chomping on the bit, the man in charge will need to be tough, ruthless and wise. I sincerely hope our boss is up to the task. A win over Bournemouth would be nice for starters.

Of course it's stupid to talk about must-win games in November, but these are games we should be winning if we have any chance of a Champions League spot, and man for man, we're better than Bournemouth. 2-0 for us which would mean a 2nd clean sheet. Orgasmic stuff.

If it's the latter then I'd give Mirallas a start and see where it takes us. If they're likely to try and frustrate us then I'd go with Kone. The interplay between Kone, Deulofeu, Lukaku and Barkley is starting to unlock teams.

Even though they were 2 up, they should've been 4 down at the break. Only poor defending and bad finishing on Swansea's behalf saved them.

We should batter them in all truth... and if we go at them, we will win it at a canter.

He looked really sharp and lively against Villa and I think he's more suited to our away counter-attack style than Kone, who for me is better at home were the game is tighter and the opposition are sitting deeper!

Any manager who insists on playing attacking football at all costs is doomed when his team is fighting for survival in the Premier League and, for Howe, the outcome will be no different than it was for Holloway and Mowbry with other clubs before him.

Only an Everton win will be acceptable here if the Top Four dream is to be anymore than just that!

I'm being a little over-optimistic here I know but with a win over Middlesbrough too that would take us into 2016 with 38 points at the halfway stage and a semi-final to look forward to, plus the FA Cup. That would represent an excellent first half of the season and help ward off the inevitable attempts to pry away some of our exciting youngsters in January.

Trust me, if we play like we have been playing in the last 3 games we will batter them.

Oh! Hang on a minute, I forgot this is Everton, anything could (and probably will) happen.

If we had kept him, we would have won our CL qualifiers.

Kudos to RM for being able to keep our star players.

Boos to OFM for losing so many of our star players starting with Rooney, Marcus Bent, Mad Dog, Arteta, Rodwell, Beattie, Bily (for playing him out of position), Fellaini (cause he nicked him from us when he left us for Man Utd) and many more.

The way we're scoring at the moment, I would expect a high scoreline and hopefully a clean sheet. But as usual, you never know with Everton.

Just read we are the most lethal in front of goal with the highest shot to goal ratio in the Premier League.

I would rather listen to Terry Groves to be honest.

On our best form, I agree we should be favourites, but I've backed a lot of odds-on losers in my time and a lot of certainties get beat because they are too complacent! They think that they only need to turn up to win.

What I've seen of Bournemouth, which has not been a lot, they have had a rough deal from the refs which has cost them a good number of points.

I agree though we should get points out of the game; on paper, we look to have more than enough fire power.

Eddie (#19), I suppose you could look at it that way but our goals for is quite strong in the league. It's our goals against which isn't great. That will never change with Howard in goal.

We look really strong going forward, and to be scoring so many goals from open play is good to see. I would just like to see us get a few from set pieces as well. We will need these in certain games against tight defensive teams.

If we win and see off 'Boro next week, our future prospects will look much brighter for a successful season, so a 3-0 scoreline tomorrow would be very nice.

Also I think Baines and Cleverley would link up well together, although myself I'd like to see him in the centre for when Barry eventually starts getting knackered.

I read a stat the other day that said how our "old and knackered" Barry as some of the fans have labelled him, ran 8 miles against Villa – more than anyone else on the pitch. I wonder how long he can keep that up for...

3 points is obviously what we're expecting here; it's difficult to imagine the Bournemouth defence being able to keep our front 4 quiet the way we're playing at the minute, but this is the Premier League after all.

I've always been a Martinez fan, maybe because I'm a little sentimental after watching our best season in years when he first arrived. I like the style of football he plays, I like his signings, and I like relationship he has with the club. But I must admit last season gave me doubt; please let the next 10 games be his chance to confirm that I was right to have faith in him.

COYB!!!!!!

Since the introduction of Kone, he seems to take a lot of pressure off Lukaku. Yes, Mirallas played really well when he came on against Villa, and with that attitude he will be an asset should we need to make changes in the second half. For me, Gareth Barry is back to his best this season, and he controls the game for us.

I just hope that RM isn't tempted to play Cleverley in a wide left or right position. For me he is a central midfield player and at the moment you couldn't pick him ahead of Barry or McCarthy. No doubt, with injuries and the busy Xmas programme looming, he will get a chance to play.

I hope he proves me wrong; over to you, Tom.

The time to tinker is injury or loss of form. We have a strong bench.

UP THE BLUES

However, how far a player runs means very little in comparison to how many high-intensity sprints they perform. Barry is always on the move, but it's a steady jog. Other players may run 7.5 miles, but they put in dozens of high-intensity sprints. These stats are more indicative of effort and fitness than distance.

This isn't criticism of Barry, nor am I knocking his workrate, which has been excellent.

The side's been playing relatively well so with no injuries or suspensions it'll be harsh to drop anyone. I would stick with the same side and look to bring on the likes of Cleverley and maybe Baines to get some minutes in the second half. I would like to see Mirallas from the start but not sure who would be dropped.

Lucky for Martinez Jagielka is still out for a while as I think Funes Mori is doing a decent job.

I'd start Kev tomorrow instead of Kone. He looked hungry last week when he came on. I know it might not be wise to tinker but he's a great option to play. This is where man-[management comes into play, RM.

Sometimes Everton can be their own worst enemies against teams at the bottom as the Sunderland game proved for the first half an hour; hopefully the return of Baines will help to get them in the driving seat early on.

Barkley was doing the right things last week, getting in the box and making things happen. Long may that continue for a lad who's talent I do not doubt. However, I think Martinez should also be looking to Mirallas in that spot in the event that Barkley slips back into the form that sees games pass him by.

Mirallas has been wonderful from the bench and has earned much more than 10 minutes here or there.

Looking forward to this one!

Harold, yes, bad weather is a potential problem but they're not a big, "lump it up" sort of team so it should still be an equal physical contest (if anything, we have the physical edge) and I expect us to win by two clear goals.

Howard;
Coleman, Stones, Funes Mori, Galloway;
Barry, McCarthy;
Deulofeu, Barkley, Kone;
Lukaku.

On Tuesday:

Robles;
Coleman, Stones, Funes Mori, Baines;
Besic, McCarthy;
Deulofeu, Mirallas, Lennon;
Lukaku.

Still a winning team!

Mirallas and Gibson should start against Boro. I hope Mirallas looks like a hungry lion feasting for goals and prove himself to Martinez.

I disagree with some recent comments that Jags should come straight back into the team when fit. Funes Mori has shown us just why he is in the Argentine team (ahead of players like Demichelis), and surely can't just be dropped in an instant when the team is settled and playing so well. He could be the best signing RM has made.

Anyway, here's to three points today.

Charlie Burnett @44 has the pulse of it, Roberto won't tinker today, but I think we may see Nessi back in there somewhere for Boro on Tuesday.