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Everton to hunt down Foxes

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 18: Bernard of Everton in action with Ayoze Perez of Leicester City during the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match between Everton FC and Leicester FC at Goodison Park on December 18, 2019 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 18: Bernard of Everton in action with Ayoze Perez of Leicester City during the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match between Everton FC and Leicester FC at Goodison Park on December 18, 2019 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images) /
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Everton return to Goodison Park tomorrow as they take on Leicester City in their latest Premier League match since the league resumption.

Two games into the restart and Everton have picked up four points, after that derby draw with Liverpool and away at Norwich City last week, which is not a bad return.

In truth though the Toffees have hardly got going since the season began again as both performances against Liverpool and Norwich were certainly under-cooked.

Given the injury issues that Carlo Ancelotti faced going into those games and the obvious lack of match practice following such a long lay off, its not surprising the Blues were so below par, as indeed were most teams.

Obviously the critical thing at the moment is securing as many points as possible and performances are not nearly so important.

However, it would be good to see some improvement in form especially in front of goal where Everton have been a little lacklustre and wasteful.

There were some good chances not taken in both previous matches and although that wasn’t ultimately costly, the derby could have been won and Norwich put out of sight well before the end of the game at Carrow Road.

So lets turn to tomorrow’s match.

Opponents Leicester City have had a fine campaign overall so far and sit well entrenched in a Champions League place for next season.

This is of course where Everton really should be after all the money that’s been spent in recent years and players and managers brought in.

Leicester’s approach has been to put a youngish progressive manager, Brendan Rogers, in charge of a team with the best remnants from their 2015-16 Premier League winning season still there, combined with several outstanding additions like Youri Tielemens and Wifred Ndidi.

It has worked well so far, although there were signs that Leicester were slipping a bit in form before the pandemic took hold.

Just like Everton, the Foxes squad is perhaps in need of an injection of new faces in several positions, with key performers such as Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans perhaps soon entering their twilight years at the top level.

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Vardy has actually had another excellent season this term to be fair to him and represents a serious threat as always up front.

And talking of future faces, one of Leicester’s most highly rated young prospects, right-back Dennis Gyamfi has opted not to sign a new contract and will leave the club in the summer.

Given the Toffees need for a young right-back to succeed Seamus Coleman long-term, might Gyamfi be a possible cheap option to consider?

As to injuries, Leicester’s goal-scoring midfielder James Maddison is a doubt for tomorrow’s match and might not be fit enough to play against Everton.

For the Blues, there are no new injury concerns, but only Yerry Mina is fit and available for selection amongst those who have been carrying knocks.

This is a difficult game to call, I have a feeling it might be a draw, but I think it’s important for the Toffees to continue their solid beginning to the season re-start and if possible, claim all the points once again.