Can Everton do double over Foxes

Tomorrow night Everton take on Leicester City hoping to do the league double over the Foxes after beating them at the Kingpower Stadium back in December.

Everton will have to do it though without Abdoulaye Doucoure who is suspended for the match because of his yellow cards.

Doucoure’s absence is a big blow especially because he’s the only recognised defensive midfielder available to Carlo Ancelotti with Brazilian star Allan also still out injured.

Solving the problem of who is going to replace him will be the number one selection issue for the Blues boss.

While he is most likely to bring in Tom Davies who would be the obvious, orthodox midfielder to replace the Frenchman, he has two other players who could possibly cover for Doucoure in this game: Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey.

Both the two defenders have previously played in midfield. Holgate did it last season under temporary manager Duncan Ferguson and more than held his own when he was asked to step in there.

Godfrey has played as a defensive midfielder more than fifty times in the course of his career so he does have plenty of experience operating in that position. However, most of those appearances were in the lower leagues.

With Seamus Coleman back to full fitness, of the two I would on balance move Holgate into the middle if Ancelotti decides to make this change. As mentioned, he has played in centre-midfield alongside Davies in the Premier League and if Lucas Digne is not fit to play then Godfrey will be needed at left-back anyway.

Whoever does fill in for Doucoure will need to be right on his game as Leicester have arguably the best central midfield pairing in the Premier League: Wilfried Ndidi and Youri Tielemans. The strong base they give the Foxes side allows James Maddison to link up with their forwards so effectively.

At the time of writing there are no new injury problems for the Toffees thankfully and it was good to see everyone get through Sunday’s game without any issues even if one or two weren’t happy about being pulled off early!

So other than a decision about who replaces Doucoure, I would expect Jordan Pickford to come back in goal and Michael Keane will presumably return alongside Yerry Mina at centre-back.

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That’s unless Digne is fit, in which case there’s a strong argument for more pace in the middle, either Holgate continuing there or possibly Godfrey given how quick he is and how well he deals with a fast and tricky customer one-on-one.

I’ve said before that Keane and Mina don’t seem to work as effectively as a pair without enough pace alongside them as although their strong defenders, neither are the quickest.

When Holgate and Godfrey are filling in a full-back that gives the speed outside to provide the cover they need. Against a forward like Jamie Vardy who is so quick and dangerous playing off the defender’s shoulder, that pace will be crucial.

Tomorrow’s opponents are coming into this match in excellent form and full of confidence. The Foxes also got through in the Cup at the weekend and are sitting in third place in the Premier League four points above Everton.

They will want to maintain that advantage and avenge their 2-0 defeat at home last month so this is again a tough match against a team full of talent and energy. That performance at the Kingpower was perhaps one of the best this Blues side has produced so far this season.

It’s a difficult game to call. A draw wouldn’t surprise me however with the Blues having had two recent matches suspended they need to pick up as many points as possible from the games they have and avoid becoming too far adrift from the other contenders for Europe.

Obviously another win is what we all want and keeps the recent winning momentum going. Let’s hope the Toffees can do that double and move back into the Champions League places.