Buoyed fresh off their crucial derby win at Anfield, Everton are looking to buttress the triumph with a successive victory against an out-of-form Southampton team.
Eight of Everton’s 12 Premier League wins this season have been away from Goodison Park and only 35 per cent of points have come at home. The Toffees will look to alter that shaky home record against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton side.
The Saints have yielded just one point in their last six games and will be fighting hard to overturn such a poor run of form.
Pickford maintains his spot at Everton’s no. 1 goalkeeping option with a dynamic back four of Mason Holgate at right-back and Lucas Digne as his left-sided counterpart sandwiching Michael Keane and Ben Godfrey in the heart of the Everton defence.
In a balance if not defensively orientated midfield of Allan, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Andre Gomes shields the back line with Gylfi Sigurdsson taking an advanced playmaking role in front of the trio.
Finally, Sigurdsson looks to be a feeding presence offering service to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, with the latter being deployed seemingly in a more central role that has seen him net twice in consecutive games.
Many Everton fans were quick to express a mixed spectrum of reactions to the team news ahead of the crunch fixture…
Twitter: @Everton Hope players aren’t injured.. otherwise it’s an absolute joke. (@seann1878)
Twitter: @Everton Dropped Davies and James not in the team https://t.co/9JJCohvmFj (@joeybartonfan12)
Twitter: @Everton So where’s Davies, James, Coleman? Rested for Thursday or picked up knocks? (@JulieHob1878)
Twitter: @Everton Worrying that we’ve got no one that can change the game off the bench tonight though (@ToffeeTalkEFC)
Twitter: @Everton Tell James to stop playing warzone till the early hours and maybe do some stretches and recovery
(@Efc1878toffees)
Twitter: @Everton He’s back
https://t.co/WA86XKaani (@adxm1878)
