With most things now settled in the Premier League, Everton face Ipswich Town at Goodison Park on Saturday in one of a few games with little riding on it this weekend.
Confirmation that the Tractor Boys will be sent packing back down to the Championship came last weekend, while Everton lost back-to-back games for the first time since David Moyes returned to the club.
Match preview
As expected, Everton’s dreadful run at Stamford Bridge continued last Saturday, with Nicolas Jackson‘s first-half goal extending the Toffees’ winless run away to Chelsea in the Premier League to 30 matches.
It means Moyes’s men have now won just one of their last nine Premier League matches, and after losing to Manchester City in their previous outing at Goodison, the returning boss could lose three in a row, something he did not suffer in his final 18 months of his first spell.
Both of those recent defeats also came to nil, with only Leicester (16) drawing more blanks in the Premier League this season than Everton have (15), and that figure is already their highest in any season in the 21st century.
While only four clubs have conceded fewer goals than their tally of 41, no team outside the bottom three has found the net on fewer occasions than Everton (34), so it is clear where their focus in the transfer market will be.
Few Everton fans will be worried about those statistics at present though, with many hoping brighter times are ahead, with new owners and a move into a new stadium on the horizon, ahead of a summer that should see the club invest in the playing squad for the first time in many years.
Each position in the Premier League provides additional prize money too, so Moyes will hope they can retake 13th place this week, after being overtaken by Wolves and Manchester United last weekend, and those two clubs have difficult assignments this weekend.
After winning 2-0 at Portman Road in October, the home faithful will be expecting to complete just a second Premier League double over Ipswich, after also managing that feat in 1994-95.
However, Ipswich won at Goodison in both of their two seasons in the top flight at the start of the 2000s, but keeping that perfect run going since the turn of the millennium looks difficult.
Kieran McKenna‘s side had their relegation confirmed at St James’ Park last weekend, losing 3-0 to a dominant Newcastle United, with Ben Johnson‘s first-half red card leaving the Tractor Boys with no chance.
While Ipswich are set to finish in 18th, the gap to West Ham United one place above them is a whopping 15 points, with the three promoted side among the weakest ever seen in the Premier League.
Ipswich will come into this fixture knowing they have shown promising signs on the road though, because two-thirds of their points have come away this season, but that does illustrate why they will be making a swift return to the second tier.
An inability to hold on to leads is another crucial factor, as well as their dismal home form, because McKenna has seen his side drop an eye-watering 27 points from winning positions this season, so things could have been so different if their defence, which has conceded 74 goals, could have tightened up more effectively.
Team News
Everton will have Armando Broja back after he was ineligible against his parent club last weekend, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin has also returned to full training after a lengthy layoff.
James Tarkowski‘s season is over after he sustained a hamstring injury against Man City, and following Michael Keane‘s horror show off the bench, Jake O’Brien was moved into a central role, after impressing at right-back recently.
Loanees Orel Mangala and Jesper Lindstrom have most likely played their last games for the club, while Dwight McNeil is being eased back into first-team action after knee surgery earlier this year, and could start on the bench again.
Ipswich could be without as many as 11 players for this trip to Merseyside, with Johnson joining fellow full-back Leif Davis in being suspended after his red card a week ago.
Former Everton youth graduate Nathan Broadhead is set to miss out with a hamstring injury, and the same issue will keep Conor Townsend and Axel Tuanzebe out at the back.
Kalvin Phillips is also set to miss out, while attacking trio Jaden Philogene, Wes Burns and Sammie Szmodics are also struggling with injury at present.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Garner, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Beto
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Palmer; O’Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Greaves, Godfrey; Hutchinson, Morsy, Cajuste, Clarke; Delap
We say: Everton 1-0 Ipswich Town
Everton have performed well for the most part against sides in and around them in the table, and they thrashed Leicester 4-0 here a few months ago, so they are rightfully clear favourites.
Three of Ipswich’s four Premier League wins this season have come away from home, but they were utterly outclassed by Newcastle last weekend, and while Everton may not be on that level, there is still a clear gap in the quality between the two sides.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
