Match Preview
Everton play what will be only their second home game in the Premier League of 2024 when Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur come to Goodison Park for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off.
The Blues drew 0-0 against Aston Villa in their last League game in front of their own fans and book-ended the FA Cup Third replay against Crystal Palace and Fourth Round defeat to Luton Town with another goalless draw at Fulham on Tuesday evening.
It means that Sean Dyche’s side enter February on a run of just one win in nine matches in all competitions and sitting in the bottom three once more after the Hatters’ shock 4-0 win over Brighton.
With no new faces arriving during the January transfer window, the manager will need to patch together a starting XI from those players not battling injuries which leaves little room for tactically selecting a line-up to take on what is a talented Spurs side that moved into fourth place after their midweek win over Brentford.
While Ange Postecoglu had a spell late last year where he had to do without some key individuals, many of those have now returned – in particular James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur – and they will pose a formidable opponent even without Son Hueng-Min and Yves Bissouma who are still away on cup duty for their respective countries.
In Son’s absence, Richarlison is likely to make his first appearance at Goodison Park since leaving Everton in the summer of 2022, another intriguing and somewhat daunting facet to a game that already feels like a tall order for Dyche’s goal-shy Toffees.
Since beating Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor in mid-December, Everton have scored just five goals in those nine games in all competitions and no Blues fan will need reminding that it’s 16 games matches since Dominic Calvert-Lewin last found the net and that £25m signing Beto has just three goals to his name all season.
With Abdoulaye Doucouré missing all the games since half-time at Burnley bar the draw with Villa, when he injured his other hamstring, and the goals having dried up Dwight McNeil as well, scoring enough to win matches has become a real problem.
Doucouré is almost certain to miss this one along with André Gomes, Arnaut Danjuma is a big doubt after being helped off the pitch at Craven Cottage with an ankle injury on Tuesday is also unlikely to feature, and it would be a surprise if Amadou Onana was in the side after Dyche described him as “touch and go” with fluid on his knee.
However, Seamus Coleman will undergo a late fitness test on his hamstring and Idrissa Gueye will be available following Senegal’s elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this week.
Dyche will, no doubt, be hoping for a repeat of the performance that Everton put in in the reverse fixture just before Christmas when they almost grabbed a draw – and probably should have done given that Calvert-Lewin had a goal harshly chalked off late on.
That was a display of energy and self-confidence, a combination that has been lacking from their play in recent weeks, and if they can get amongst Tottenham’s defence and unsettle their attempts to play out from the back, the hope is they can carve out some early chances that would allow them to get in front and have something to hold on to.
Kick-off: 12:30pm, Saturday 3 February, 2024
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Last Time: Everton 1 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Young, McNeil, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin