Everton will hope to end their winless run when they visit Selhurst Park for a clash with a rejuvenated Crystal Palace side on Saturday.
The Toffees have failed to win against the Eagles in their last four meetings, with the south London club claiming 3-2 wins in their last two encounters at Goodison Park. They will be desperate to reverse that trend as they are in they are in the bottom-half of the table; way behind in their intended top-four challenge. Roberto Martinez’s side are also bottom of the form table over the last six league games, losing four of those matches.
They had a rare week off since they are out of the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup so manager Roberto Martinez used the opportunity to take his squad to Doha for a series of warm-weather sessions.
The Spaniard believes that his side should return to action with more hunger and desire after the bonding experience and the longer training sessions. They will need that drive to improve their league form and kick on in the Europa League, which will soon resume.
Alan Pardew will hope to extend his perfect start to life as Palace manager. He has won all four games in all competitions so far. The former Newcastle boss, who has steered the Eagles to 13th in the table, will be looking to further distance his new side from the dreaded drop-zone by eclipsing Everton into 12th position with a win.
The Eagles will be brimming with confidence after their last outing when they fired three past the best defence in the Premier league as they twice came from behind to knock high-flying Southampton out of the FA Cup.
Crystal Palace team news
- Jerome Thomas (muscular) and Jonathan Williams (groin) remain sidelined.
- Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak are on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup, respectively.
Everton team news
- James McCarthy (hamstring) could feature for the first time in a month if he passes a late fitness test. Darron Gibson (knee) will also need a late fitness test.
- Muhamed Besic (ankle), Sylvain Distin (groin) and Kevin Mirallas (hamstring) could all return as well.
- Tim Howard (calf), Steven Pienaar (knee) and Leon Osman (ankle) are expected to miss out.
Crystal Palace vs Everton prediction
Pardew will probably continue with Yaya Sanogo and Dwight Gayle in attack, despite Marouane Chamakh’s goalscoring return to action in the FA Cup last weekend. That could mean a 4-4-2 formation for the Eagles with Wilfried Zaha and Jason Puncheon as the wide midfielders.
The Toffees should turn to their usual 4-2-3-1 formation, with Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman as the full-backs bombing on down the flanks. The likely change could see Aiden McGeady and Steven Naismith start as wide attacking midfielders flanking Ross Barkley with Mirallas possibly starting on the bench.
Palace are enjoying their best spell of the season and Selhurst Park will be rocking so Everton cannot afford an urban flow to the game in the first-half. The Toffees have the quality to control the game with the likes of Besic and Gareth Barry so they will need to keep possession then try to go for the game in the second-half.
Score prediction
Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton (9/1)
