Everton clash heads with Leicester City in their midweek fixture of the Premier League on Tuesday at the Goodison Park. The Toffees are currently 15th in the league table and find themselves winning just one of their last 12 Premier League games. A defeat to Brighton at home last week to start the new year was another blow to Rafael Benitez’s attempt to turn things around at the Goodison. The Toffees needed extra-time on Saturday to progress to round 4 of the FA Cup against Hull City but the manager will hope that this is the game from where his men can turn it around and move up the table in the league.
3-4-3 Everton Predicted Lineup Vs Leicester City
Defence
Jordan Pickford will continue between the sticks and will hope to keep a rare cleansheet with his last one coming against Spurs 7 gameweeks back.
Benitez is expected to go with 3 central defenders at the back with Micheal Keane, Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate all starting on Tuesday. The Everton defence has leaked goals throughout the season as Benitez will hope from his centre-backs to keep it tight at the back and not allow any space to the Leicester attackers to work with. Yerry Mina continues to be out with a calf problem.
Midfield
The midfield duo of Allan and Doucoure is expected to start in order to control the tempo of the game from the middle of the park. Allan will be used to shield the Toffees defence by the former Napoli manager whereas Doucoure will have the freedom to make late runs into the box and finish chances off. Fabian Delph is expected to miss the tie after testing positive for Covid-19. Jean-Philippe Gbamin will be an option from the bench for Benitez to use later in the game.
Jonjoe Kenny and Seamus Coleman will start as wingbacks to provide width while attacking and also have the awareness to make it a back 5 while defending. Lucas Digne, who is close to leaving the club, will be on the bench. Both the wingbacks’ work rate will be important to how Everton play and most importantly how they defend the wide attackers of the Foxes.
Attack
A front 3 of Demarai Gray, Anthony Gordon and Andros Townsend is expected to lead the line for the Toffees on Tuesday. Anthony Gordon, who scored a brace in Everton’s last league game, will be hoping to get another chance to stamp his place in the starting XI while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is expected to start from the bench after playing the whole 90 minutes last week. Richarlison continues to be missing with a calf injury while Alex Iwobi is on international duty for the Africa Cup of Nations. Rondon will be the option for Benitez to bring on from the bench in the later stages of the game.
