please log in to view this image Sunday 3rd January 4pm Goodison Park Premier League Three wins on the bounce following our defeat to Newcastle and there's a lot of positive talk around right now. This will be a big test though, as Everton have a lot of good players, despite their poor recent form. The 0-0 draw at WHL earlier in the season was a little disappointing, but we'll do well to better that result. Our opponents have been scoring goals and entertaining the neutrals, but not picking up many points. Some very interesting matches in the last month or so haven't gone their way. Their 4-3 loss to Stoke in the last game is probably the best example of that. Conceding four times to a side who have played well but struggled to find the net isn't what fans are looking for. Martinez will desperately want to pick up three points against us, but he's also got other things to consider. His side face Man City in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final on the 6th, so that may influence his team selection. James McCarthy and Phil Jagielka will miss this one though, so his options may be limited. We have at least one major selection headache of our own. Moussa Dembele has been ruled out for a few weeks, so Pochettino will have to shift things about a bit. Pritchard and N'Jie are still out too, but the former's back in training and on the verge of a return. We sealed 5th place on the last day of the last campaign with a 1-0 victory in this fixture. A repeat of this would be very welcome, for me. That's one impressed sounding Arabic commentator. Lineups for the last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Alderweireld, Dier, Vertonghen; Trippier, Carroll, Dembele, Rose; Lamela, Alli; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Walker, Davies, Mason, Eriksen, Chadli, Son. League form: DDLWWW. Everton: Howard; Coleman, Stones, Funes Mori, Galloway; Barkley, Barry, McCarthy; Deulofeu, Lukaku, Kone. Subs: Joel, Baines, Gibson, Besic, Cleverly, Osman, Naismith. League form: DDDLWL. Referee: Michael Oliver. Who should replace the injured Dembele? Did either of our fullbacks do enough to retain their places and did Son's goal do enough to earn him a start? Should we stick with three at the back or push Dier back into the midfield?
The league cup could really spur (excuse pun) their players on. I remember us playing wigan back in 2006 just before their final v United and their players put in a great performance v us the weekend before as they wanted a place in the final. Everton players will definitely want to play v City on Wednesday so can see them trying to impress against us tomorrow. A win for us would be great ... especially as Monday is my birthday ... but I think it'll be a sad last match before I turn 49! Coys
I'd drop Alli deep next to Dier. He played well there at the beginning of the season when most of our midfielders were out injured. It certainly limits his chances to score but Mason and Bentaleb lack match sharpness and Carroll isn't strong or tenacious enough to deal with what is quite a physical Everton side. Having said that, Poch may look at Mcarthy's absence and feel that Carroll is worth the risk. I think Son deserves a start - always play the players whose confidence is highest, especially in tricky but absolutely winnable away games. I didn't see anything in particular from the FB's against Watford to convince me that they should keep their place; although Trippier did remind us plentifully of his excellent crossing ability and that might be a factor against a side simply haemorrhaging goals at the minute. I'd like to see: Lloris Walker Toby Jan Davies Dier Alli Lamela Eriksen Son Kane Vorm Wimmer Trippier Bentaleb Carroll Chadli Mason Although once again that ^ bench is just crying out for NEW STRIKER to sit on it. Sigh.
I guess we'll have to wait and see but I'd be surprised if we don't bring in one new face up front. So far, we've been lucky with Kane staying fit but sooner or later, he'll either run out of steam or pick up a knock if he's continually pushed to play every week. Hopefully Paul Mitchell has his eye on a couple of gems that he'll persuade Levy to write a cheque for one of.
Another week of the (fast becoming <standard> ) RDBD mantra : Results have gone our way. Tough opponent. Statement of ambition. Win first. Then clean sheet. Performance worthy of those things. I would like the boys to also set themselves a target of winning by 2 goals. As that would mean a GD of +1 per game played this season.
Poor set of results for us yesterday. .. city, arsenal, united all played pretty poorly but they all won. Makes a win today vital imo. Dembele will be a big miss today too
I agree playing Alli further back and giving Son a start is the best option. Everton remind me of us last year: plenty of goals, but nothing resembling defensive organization. They have a considerably better GD than we did last year, yet are six places farther back, because they've had a real knack for dropping points and we had an uncanny ability to pick them up. I don't think Trippier has done enough to seriously threaten Walker's place. He has done enough to be worth considering as a substitute late when we need a goal. We probably have the best group of aerial threats in the league, to judge from our leading the league in set piece goals. Having a really good crosser at FB should produce goals, and did last week.
01 Lloris 02 Walker 04 Alderweireld 05 Vertonghen 33 Davies 15 Dier 28 Carroll 11 Lamela 20 Alli 23 Eriksen 10 Kane Substitutes 03 Rose 06 Bentaleb 07 Son Heung-min 13 Vorm 16 Trippier 22 Chadli 25 Onomah
Lakaku will be a big test for Toby and Vertongen will his speed and strength. We need to get plenty of crosses in to test Howard as he has been a weakness for them (he is still a great shot stopper but his handling has been suspect at times) and the crowd could well get on his back and his defenders really nervous if he makes an early drop. So with that in mind I'd play Walker and Rose.
Carroll ?? My one Pochettino concern is dogma over pragma. And we really need to be getting a lot more competitive game time into the legs of Bentaleb/Chadli/Mason before the Europa starts up again in Feb.
Eriksen will have to front up in CM today IMHO. The FBs will need some additional help against Lennon et al.
Lennon will cause us problems when he defends and when he attacks...has been a good few years since we won on my birthday so clinging on to the hope that they'll make up for losing to the goons on my birthday 2 yrs ago. Coys make an old man happy
Hopefully Carroll will be playing further forward or at least part of a 3 in midfield. Pleased to see he's getting another chance, he's deserved it. Bit disappointed for Son after coming on to nick the winner against Watford. Goodison's probably not the right place to start with too many attacking players though.
For those of you who will not be watching the game with the latest fancy TV audio facilities, to give you that full "like I am there" experience, I will be periodically injecting BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! into this article.
