Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton will look to make it five wins in five as they welcome West Ham to Goodison Park on New Years’ Day – and the Toffees will hope that their first taste of football in 2021 will be a sweet one.
The Toffees have enjoyed a welcome turnaround in form with commanding back-to-back wins.
Victories over teams including European spot-chasers Chelsea and Leicester as well as lower-placed sides in Arsenal and Sheffield United have left Everton sitting in a Champions League place.
David Moyes’ side themselves should not be discounted as being in serious contention for a European spot as they sit in tenth place.
Despite being six places behind a Champions League spot, they are separated by just three points from fifth-placed Aston Villa.
However, Ancelotti’s side come up against a Hammers outfit desperate to bounce back to winning ways, with the Irons failing to record a victory in their previous four league clashes.
Both sides will know that even heading into the new year, the point separation between teams is shockingly tight at this stage of the season.
In terms of injuries, Ancelotti is without key figures in Allan, James Rodriguez, Lucas Digne, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
However, the cancellation of their home clash with Manchester City offers some respite for a team that otherwise would have played two games in as many days.
With extra time to rest and recuperate, Ancelotti may be wary of heavily rotating his side and upsetting a winning formula – though Richarlison is fit and available to start.
As a result, here is Read Everton’s predicted line-up to face West Ham…
