Merseyside outfit Everton host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Monday, as the two sides clash in the Premier League this weekend with the hopes of adding yet another win under their belt. The hosts are currently at 11th place in the league table with 21 points while the visitors are just one point above them and situated at 8th place. It should be a really close encounter, with Roberto Martínez’s side looking to use the home advantage in their favour and will want to take back all three points from this fixture. However, one thing that might work against the Toffees would be that they currently have six players out injured, while Palace have just three, which would benefit the visiting side on the night. Key players like McCarthy, Jagielka, Hibbert and Pienaar are out along with a few other players while Alan Pardew’s side will be missing stars like Sako, Gayle and Appiah.
It will be quite an interesting mid-table clash to put pressure for a spot in Europe and the winner would go above the other in the points table, as the difference between them at present is barely anything.
Stats suggest that the home side have not lost a single game in their last five matches in all competitions and will look to build on that form, as they go into this match. On the other hand, the visitors have won twice, lost a couple of games and drawn one in the same number of matches in various competitions that they have been part of.
One astonishing fact is that Everton have not lost in their previous 15 Premier League games which have been played on a Monday, which would surely be a huge moral booster for them and hopefully they can use it in their favour.
On head to head clashes, both sides have a couple of wins each to their name and one fixture has ended in a goalless draw, which makes things look quite even on paper though games are never really won on paper.
There is no doubt that both Martinez and Pardew will go out there with a plan to counter their rival’s tactics and which manager comes on top remains to be seen.
Here are the predicted lineups for both sides, for this particular clash:
Everton lineup: Tim Howard, Seamus Coleman, Ramiro Funes Mori, Brendan Galloway, John Stones, Ross Barkley, Gareth Barry, Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu, Romelu Lukaku, Steven Naismith.
Crystal Palace lineup: Wayne Hennessey, Scott Dann, Damien Delaney, Pape Souaré, Joel Ward, Yannick Bolasie, Yohan Cabaye, James McArthur, Jason Puncheon, Wilfried Zaha, Connor Wickham.