Everton entered November in the top half of the Premier League, but after suffering a third straight defeat last Monday, they are glancing nervously behind them with a tough run of fixtures on the horizon.
The expected gauntlet begins with a home clash against Tottenham, whom they last beat in a league meeting at Goodison Park back in December 2012.
The hosts nearly amended that back in April during the most recent head-to-head, but only managed a 2-2 draw, despite rallying after conceding first for the fourth time in five competitive home head-to-heads.
Here in the present, meanwhile, Everton’s man-marking frailties remain problematic, with the Toffees conceding via corners in all three of their defeats preceding this clash versus Tottenham boss Antonio Conte enjoyed a winning start to life in the Spurs hot seat on Thursday, guiding his new side to a crazy 3-2 win over Vitesse.
With Tottenham also scoring multiple times in four of their last five trips to Goodison Park, he could well add to a perfect return from his last three league debuts with a new club.
Players to watch: Alex Iwobi has seen three of his six prior Everton goals arrive within the opening 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Spurs’ opening midweek scorer, Son Heung-Min, netted decisively in the Lilywhites’ most recent Premier League away win
More negative than Mourinho and Nuno combined
I’d rather us be playing a 3-5-2 – 3-4-3 makes us too vulnerable to being exposed in the middle
Harold. Wearing your wife’s kimono on the video ….. is rather fetching
Now would be a good time for Eric Dier to try to show he’s not the donkey we know he is. My watchful eye will also rest on Ben Davies who did his best to concede a penalty in the opening minutes of the Vitesse game and got roasted by Coleman at Goodison in the FA Cup.
Last game’s MOTM Emerson also doesn’t inspire much confidence in me as a defender either. We’ll see how he does.
Anyway, they lost 5-2 at home to one of the worst teams in the division. We should have more than enough for them.