Match Preview
Everton’s busy December continues when they make the short trip to Turf Moor this weekend to take on relegation-threatened Burnley.
The two clubs are separated by just a five points at the bottom of the table but their respective form is very different and the Blues are, of course, sitting in 17th only because of the 10-point deduction imposed by the Premier League last month.
Things are quite different to the last time Everton visited this part of Lancashire. 19 months ago, Richarlison was scoring goals for the Toffees, Frank Lampard was manager and Sean Dyche was in the home dugout.
On that dramatic night in April last year, Everton coughed up a 2-1 half-time lead and eventually lost 3-2 in a result that appeared, at the time, to signal the immediate futures of both clubs. Of course, the Blues stayed up and Burnley went down having sacked Dyche in between.
Having run away with the Championship title last season, the Clarets have endured a tough return to the top flight so far thus far. Their only two victories so far this season have come against the two teams that came uop with them from the second tier, Luton and Sheffield United, and their victory over the Blades 10 days ago was their first of the campaign at home.
Under Vincent Kompany, though they have looked porous at the back and have struggled for goals, they have been showing glimmers in recent weeks that they won’t continue to be the walk-overs they were in the early weeks of the season.
Kompany will have to do without Luca Koleosho, Lyle Foster and Jack Cork due to injury while Charlie Taylor is suspended having picked up his fifth yellow card. Josh Cullen will be assessed before the game but is unlikely to be passed fit.
For Everton, neither Seamus Coleman nor Ashley Young will be available. Coleman recently made his long-awaited return from a knee injury that required surgery in May, playing 66 minutes against Newcastle United last week before being replaced by Nathan Patterson with an unspecified knock.
He was also absent from the win on Sunday in which Young himself had to be substituted shortly before half-time.
With Jarrad Branthwaite suspended along with midfielder Idrissa Gueye, there was a risk that Dyche would be short-handed at the back for the first time this season but after missing the Chelsea clash completely, Keane has reportedly trained this week and could be in contention for the trip to his former club on Saturday.
The defender, who hasn’t played since coming on at halfway through in the Anfield derby following Young’s dismissal for two bookable offences, is hoping to have recovered from an ankle problem in time.
Amadou Onana should be fit to start in Gueye’s place in midfield but Andre Gomes will be given a 90-minute run-out for the Under-21s as the final step in his recovery from a troublesome calf issue of his own.
The last two times these teams met, Dyche infamously revealed that he had told his Burnley side that Everton under Lampard had “forgotten how to win”. Nowadays, the Toffees are in great form and have very much found a winning groove with Dyche at the helm at Goodison Park.
The 52-year-old spent a decade at Turf Moor but he will be all business once the game gets underway on his first game back at his old stomping ground.
“I always had a big respect and a big connection with the people and the fans because of my time, and the team’s time, and what was achieved there,” Dyche said in his press conference at Finch Farm.
“To be honest, when the whistle blows, I want to win. That’s work time, that is what I am in the game for – to win.”
Kick-off: 5:30pm, Saturday, 16 December, 2023
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Chris Kavanagh
Last Time: Burnley 3 – 2 Everton
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Patterson, Keane, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Onana, Garner, Harrison, McNeil, Doucouré, Calvert-Lewin