Everton take on Watford on Monday night at Goodison Park and this game is a great chance for the Blues to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
It’s been a difficult and frustrating week for Everton with a last second derby defeat that was so hard to take and then a sub-par performance in the draw against Newcastle on Wednesday night.
Monday’s match, again at home against Watford, represents a real chance for the Toffees to return to winning ways before a trip up the M62 to Manchester and that game at the Etihad.
Of course as everyone knows this fixture has an extra edge given that Blues boss Marco Silva and Brazilian forward Richarlison were both at Vicarage Road a year ago.
And the well documented and controversial nature of Everton’s pursuit of Silva last season still seems to have left a bad taste in the mouth.
Putting all that aside this is ultimately just another Premier League match and one that Everton really do need to win.
With a hectic Christmas and New Year schedule and that match at Manchester City to come, Everton need to return to winning ways on Monday.
Watford themselves started this season much like they had done the last under Silva. They were flying high and at one point looked like they could be the surprise package of the season, as Burnley were last term.
However they have since faltered and fallen away from the giddy heights of those early weeks. After beating Huddersfield in September, Watford have lost four of their last five Premier League matches.
So they are probably not going to travel up to Merseyside on Monday feeling particularly confident.
But they are still a dangerous side and one whose strengths are in areas of the game where the Toffees have been weak this season.
In particular the Hornets are a physically imposing team, good in the air and one that does well at set-pieces, probably the Blues biggest weakness.
It will be very important for Everton to defend crosses, corners and free-kicks well and match up physically with their opponents.
Watford also have a poor discipline record this season and it’s quite possible this match could see one or two players sent off if it gets very aggressive.
Everton need to keep their cool and not ruin what has recently been a very good disciplinary record. Especially if Watford provoke their former player Richarlison, who certainly had his run-ins with referees earlier in the season.
Blues boss Silva has a few selection issues before this match, especially the question of who will start up front.
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The experiment of playing Ademola Lookman and Cenk Tosun from the start didn’t work against Newcastle.
Lookman should probably get another chance to impress but it’s likely Silva will go back to using Richarlison as his central forward as Tosun looks very short of confidence and doesn’t seem to suit the way Silva wants to play.
Overall then this game is a very winnable one and I expect Everton to do just that and claim a valuable three points before the Christmas holiday time exertions really begin.