Everton are having a good season, currently sitting 10th in the table, and given how close the table is, they will have ambitions of bringing European football back to the blue half of Liverpool.
Last weekend, they won 1-0 away at Aston Villa, in an impressive performance by the Toffees. Villa are third in the table and were on a run of 11 straight home wins until Everton arrived in Birmingham. They were restricted to limited chances and did not cause David Moyes and his men too many problems.
After a run over Christmas where Everton’s form dipped slightly, with a couple of draws and defeats, they will be pleased to get back to winning ways. Their two wins in December came against their former manager Sean Dyche, when they beat his Nottingham Forest side home and away.
Leeds United, however, endured a good run of form over the festive period and climbed the table to 16th, but crucially for them, increased the gap to the bottom three to 8 points. Former Toffees striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has played a key part in the Leeds revival.
At home to Fulham, Daniel Farke’s side won 1-0 last weekend, so they will have reasons to be optimistic.
On the opening day of the season, Leeds secured a 1-0 win against Everton. The deciding moment of the game came from the penalty spot after James Tarkowski was adjudged to have handled the ball.
It was a controversial decision and one that angered the Everton players, but it gave Leeds an opening-day win on their return to the Premier League. Other than that moment, there was not much between the sides that day, and it was quite a flat performance from Moyes’s side. It could be another close match this time.
It was a difficult start to Thierno Barry’s Everton career but Moyes stuck by him and it looks like that move is starting to pay off.
He scored the crucial goal in the win at Villa Park and it was a well-taken strike.
Everton have been looking for a striker who will get guaranteed goals for a while now and there will be a hope that Barry is the man who can score the goals to fire them up the table.
He now has four Premier League goals to his name.
- Win against Villa came without several key players:
There were several players missing due to injury, suspension or AFCON last week, as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Michael Keane, Carlos Alcaraz, Tim Iroegbunam, Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye were all absent. This strengthens the win and shows the quality of the side and the organised nature of the performance.
Dewsbury-Hall has been a key player this season and had really hit form before his injury. Everton will want to have these players back sooner rather than later, but many will still be missing for the visit of Leeds.
Ndiaye and Gueye will be back for the game after they were crowned champions of Africa last week with Senegal.
Jack Grealish has had an impressive season on Merseyside and has scored some important goals.
He is currently on loan from Manchester City, but there is a hope that he can join the side permanently in the summer. He completed the full 90 minutes against his former club, Aston Villa.
However, it has been reported that Everton could now be without the player for as long as three months.
This will come as disappointing news for Everton, the player, and his possible chances of competing for a World Cup place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad. To be without a loan player for that long will be a frustrating time for Moyes.
- Do any other Everton players have a chance of a World Cup place?
Jordan Pickford will, of course, be in goal for the Three Lions at the tournament. Then, it may seem unlikely, but there is a possibility that some other Everton players could gain a place in Tuchel’s squad. He was at the game at Villa Park and may have had his eyes on one or two, as he was also pictured in discussions with David Moyes after the game.
Grealish would have been one to watch, but James Garner was praised by Moyes for his performance in midfield.
When fit, Dewsbury-Hall has also been scoring goals and contributing assists, so he could have an outside chance if he can hit that form again.
Tarkowski could be an unlikely option at centre back, though Jarrad Branthwaite could be more likely to be in contention when he returns, hoping to add to the one international cap that he currently has.
Everton players will want to ensure that this is the club’s best league season for some time, and then see what happens.
They will likely go into the Leeds game feeling confident, despite the injuries. Moyes will remind his side not to underestimate the quality of the opposition, but it should be an interesting game as Everton wishes to further demonstrate their improvement from when the sides last met.