Premier League football returns to Goodison Park for the second time in a week when Everton host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
David Moyes will take charge of his second game since returning to the club, while Ange Postecoglou has been given assurances that his days are not numbered at Tottenham, despite their worrying league position.
Match preview
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Despite being under new management, it was the same old story for Everton in their clash with Aston Villa on Wednesday night, as yet another gilt-edged chance went begging in the dying stages, costing them a potentially crucial point.
There was no new manager bounce for Moyes, who saw Dominic Calvert-Lewin squander a huge opportunity in injury time, resulting in a 1-0 defeat at home to Unai Emery's side, their first win in six matches on the road.
That extended Everton's dismal record against Villa, with the Toffees now winless in 12 league matches against them, and it means they have won just one Premier League match in 12.
Seven goals from open play in 20 matches so far this season is far and away Everton's worst ratio in the Premier League era, with their three successive recent defeats all coming without scoring.
Everton have now become just the fourth team in PL history to fire a blank in at least 12 of their first 20 games of a season, and after match one, Moyes was frank and honest about the current state of the squad.
The new manager has called for instant improvement to the squad, suggesting that the current crop may not be good enough to save them from relegation.
Fortunately for the Toffees, Wolves, Leicester City and Ipswich Town all lost in midweek, so they remain 16th, one point above the drop zone, ahead of two more crucial home games before the rearranged Merseyside derby next month.
Everton will welcome Leicester to Goodison on February 1, but first up is a Spurs team that start the weekend just two places above them in the Premier League table.
That is down to another North London derby defeat in midweek, where Tottenham were beaten 2-1 at the Emirates, losing home and away to Arsenal in the same PL season for just the fifth time.
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Postecoglou saw his team go ahead thanks to Son Heung-min, but an unfortunate own goal by Dominic Solanke, and an error by Antonin Kinsky for Leandro Trossard's effort saw the Gunners turn the game around in quick succession.
That was a seventh loss in 11 games, and wins for West Ham United and Manchester United saw them both go above Spurs in the week, leaving Postecoglou's men level on points with 15th-placed Crystal Palace.
While the pressure has been ramped up and Postecoglou is now the favourite to be sacked next in the Premier League, this game has not been labelled as 'do or die' for the Aussie manager, with the Spurs board still backing the boss, if reports on Friday are to be believed.
The numbers do not look good though, because an 11th defeat of the season represents Tottenham's joint-highest at this stage of a Premier League season, and they have taken just 24 points so far.
This should be the perfect fixture for Tottenham to respond in though, given their dominant hold over Everton in recent years.
Spurs have not lost in front of a crowd against Everton since 2012, since going 21 games unbeaten, and the Toffees are one of the few sides they have kept a clean sheet against this season, doing so in the 4-0 thrashing they handed out in August.
At Goodison though, these affairs are often more closely-fought, with all five games ending in a draw here since Spurs won 6-2 in 2018.
Team News
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Everton could welcome James Garner back to the squad for the first time in over three months this weekend, following his return to full training after sustaining a back injury in October.
Key creative spark Dwight McNeil remains out though, while captain Seamus Coleman, and young duo Tim Iroegbunam and Youssef Chermiti will also not make it in time.
Armando Broja is set to miss the next three months after damaging ankle ligaments in the FA Cup win over Peterborough United last week, but no decision has been made yet about whether Everton will pay off the rest of his loan contract and send him back to Chelsea in order to bring another loanee in this month.
Spurs have a few injury doubts that have cropped up in the aftermath of their defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday, with Brennan Johnson and Yves Bissouma both doubtful.
Timo Werner will now miss the next three weeks with a hamstring tweak, joining Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven on the sidelines, who are all battling the same issue.
Ben Davies should be involved though after missing around six weeks with his own hamstring issue, and after making a comeback on Wednesday, former Everton man Richarlison will hope for more minutes, after scoring three times against his old employers last season.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Lindstrom, Gueye, Mangala, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Kinsky; Pedro Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Bergvall, Sarr, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son
We say: Everton 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
While Everton cannot score, that is certainly not Tottenham's problem, because the visitors have netted nearly three times as many goals this season, and unless the Toffees can get attacking reinforcements through the door, that is not going to change.
Even their often stingy defence has been breached far too often for their liking recently, leaving Everton in a perilous position, so they may be looking for favours from other teams this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
