Match Preview
Everton will have a fourth successive home win in their sights when they reconvene at Goodison Park hoping to take the momentum from Wednesday night’s pulsating 2-0 win over Liverpool into the late afternoon clash with Brentford.
Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and a top-drawer performance from the whole team on the night saw the Blues win their first home derby since 2010 and take another huge step towards ensuring that the Grand Old Lady will host top-flight football in her final season.
Calvert-Lewin was immense from start until he was withdrawn a couple of minutes from the end to milk well-deserved applause from the home faithful but arguably his best display for quite a while came despite sustaining a knock to his knee against Nottingham Forest three days previously and then coming down with a stomach bug on derby day.
Sean Dyche explained in his press conference at Finch Farm yesterday that he and his team are hopeful that “DCL” can shake the illness off in time to face the Bees, particularly because Beto will miss a second match because of the Premier League’s protocols around head injuries.
The Portuguese was knocked out cold late in the game against Forest but is expected to be available for the trip to Luton Town next Friday.
Vitalii Mykolenko will also be missing this weekend after badly rolling his ankle in the first half against Liverpool and then leaving the stadium with his foot in a protective boot and Seamus Coleman is doubtful with a groin injury.
How many changes Dyche elects to make purely to manage fatigue as he prepares for a third fixture in six days remains to be seen but he has scope to switch things up in midfield, as Idrissa Gueye has battled tightness in his calf, and also on the wings, although it’s unlikely he would see fit to drop either Dwight McNeil or Jack Harrison at this stage.
Having gone through a sticky patch that saw them win just once in the Premier League between 20th January and 13 April and, at one stage, had them involved in the conversation around relegation this season, Brentford have now gone five games without defeat and are, themselves, one win away from mathematical safety.
Thomas Frank has been boosted by the staggered returns of Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo but it was Yoane Wissa who was the star of their 5-1 win over Luton last weekend, a result that underlined just how good the Bees can be on their day.
Frank is hoping that Toney will be available despite a recent hamstring injury but Aaron Hickey, Ben Mee, Joshua Dasilva and Rico Henry are ruled out with injury and striker Neal Maupay is ineligible to face his parent club.
With 18th-place Luton travelling to Wolves in a 3pm kick-off and, realistically, needing to win to keep alive their hopes of catching the Toffees, it’s possible that Everton will know what they need to do against Brentford to guarantee their safety by the end of the day. Defeat for the Hatters at Molineux would mean that a point would be enough to effectively see Dyche’s men safe because of their vastly superior goal difference.
A win, however, would leapfrog the Toffees back over Brentford and into the position they briefly occupied before the second of their two points deductions dropped them back down to 16th.
Kick-off: 5:30 pm, Saturday 27 April 2024
Referee: Darren England
VAR: Michael Oliver
Last Time: Everton 1 – 0 Brentford
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young, Onana, Gomes, Harrison, McNeil, Doucouré, Calvert-Lewin