Everton will entertain Liverpool at Goodison Park as part of this Premier League weekend’s lunchtime kick-off in what is set to be a highly entertaining Merseyside derby. The Toffees were convincingly beaten by the Premier League champions-elect Manchester City in their last league outing at home. Sam Allardyce’s team will now look to bounce back from that defeat against their Merseyside rivals, who are in red-hot form after they beat City with a 3-0 scoreline in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The recent history of the fixture makes a grim reading for Everton fans as they have not seen their team win in any of their previous 16 encounters with Liverpool, a run in which they have tasted defeat in 8 matches.
Allardyce is expected to stick with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and might name the same side that faced the Citizens in the last gameweek.
4-2-3-1 Everton Predicted Lineup To Face Liverpool
Defence
Jordan Pickford should start in goal for Everton and will be protected by a back four consisting of Michael Keane and Ashley Williams in central defence while Seamus Coleman operates as the right-back and Leighton Baines might start on the left side of the backline.
Sam Allardyce’s side has shipped in only 53 goals in 32 league matches during the course of this campaign. Big Sam will be hoping that his defenders can keep a clean sheet at home versus their crosstown rivals to give themselves the best possible chance of getting maximum points out of this contest.
Midfield
The duo of Wayne Rooney and Morgan Schneiderlin could be deployed at the centre of the park as the holding midfielders while the trio of Yannick Bolasie, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and new signing, Theo Walcott will play ahead of them. The Everton midfield will be responsible to create some opportunities and score the goals that will make the difference on the day. Tom Davies might have to settle for a place on the bench and could be called upon if required later on in the derby.
Attack
Cenk Tosun will once again lead the lines for the Toffees up top. The January arrival has been in a rich vein of form in recent weeks and will look to get his name on the scoresheet in what could be the Merseyside club’s biggest match of the season. The 26-year-old forward has found the back of the net 4 times in 8 league matches so far. He also has one assist to his name.
