Swansea City still have a good chance of surviving the relegation if they manage to get wins in the remaining three fixtures of the season. They trail 17th placed Hull City by two points and their draw against Manchester United last game, was a huge boost in confidence.
They host a resilient Everton side, who unlike them, do not have much of a purpose left in the league this year. They have secured the 7th position for sure and they can only hope to leapfrog Arsenal at the moment. However, the Gunners have played two games lesser than them and any chance of that happening looks highly unlikely. The last week’s defeat against Chelsea was disheartening and Swansea could take advantage of the lack of confidence in the Toffees.
Team News
Swansea City:
Swansea got a triple injury boost ahead of this game as Jack Cork, Martin Olsson and Leroy Fer are fit again and should be in contention. Among other injuries, it seems that Jefferson Montero is pretty much out for the season with a hamstring injury he incurred last week. He joins Nathan Dyer on the list, who is also sitting out the season with an Achilles tendon injury.
Paul Clement just might be able to see Angel Rangel and Wayne Routledge for a game before the season ends, as they are just a few days from returning. Fernando Llorente should be back in action after missing the previous game with a bug.
Everton:
Everton got a huge shock in the midweek as their star winger, Aaron Lennon was surprisingly taken into custody under the Mental Health Act. It is bound to affect the dressing room and Ronald Koeman will have to nudge it out of his players’ heads.
Their winter recruit Morgan Schneiderlin is struggling from a thigh problem and is expected to miss the game. The rest of the long injury list remains the same. Everton have three players out for the season- Yannick Bolasie, Seamus Coleman, and Funes Mori. James McCarthy and Muhamed Besic are out for this game but might be back in action before the end of the season.
Predicted Line-up
Swansea City: Fabianski; Fernández, Mawson, Naughton, Olsson; Britton, Carroll, Cork, Sigurdsson; Ayew, Llorente
Everton: Stekelenburg; Baines, Holgate, Jagielka, Williams; Barry, Gueye, Davies, Barkley, Mirallas, Lukaku
Key Players
Swansea City:
Gylfi Sigurdsson will definitely be the player to watch out for going into this game. He saved Swansea at Old Trafford with a mesmerising free-kick. Fernando Llorente will be another threat for the Everton’s back line.
Everton:
The Toffees’ away form has been a huge concern for Koeman in the second half and he would expect Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku to step up at a venue, where they haven’t won in the last three attempts.
Odds
Swansea City @ 2.80
Draw @ 3.50
Everton @ 2.62
