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Can Everton sustain excellent road form

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Andre Gomes of Everton and Matt Phillips of West Bromwich Albion in action during the Premier League match between Everton and West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park on September 19, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Visionhaus)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Andre Gomes of Everton and Matt Phillips of West Bromwich Albion in action during the Premier League match between Everton and West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park on September 19, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Visionhaus) /
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Two wins in two without a goal conceded and finally a victory at Goodison Park as well on Monday night, so can Everton keep their fine away form going tomorrow at West Bromwich Albion?

This match of course is against former Everton boss Sam Allardyce now trying to work his familiar relegation-avoiding magic trick at the Hawthorns. Recently they have it seems started to respond to the bluff Englishman’s work.

Going into this game the Blues are on a great run away from home and are unbeaten since their last defeat on the road at Newcastle United on the 1 November last year. They need to keep this momentum going tomorrow afternoon.

At the time of writing it seems as though the three players who missed Monday’s match might well be available for selection at West Brom. That presumably just leaves Yerry Mina and the two long-term absentees Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Fabian Delph on the injured list.

This means Carlo Ancelotti has an almost fully fit squad to pick from. So what will his tactics and team selection be?

It will be interesting to see if he restores James Rodriguez to the starting eleven. To be honest if he’s 100% I would be tempted to bring him back and then perhaps rest him for the Chelsea trip as the Blues are likely to play a much more defensive side at the Bridge. Although knowing Allardyce’s sides West Brom might be very physical and kick him quite a lot.

Up front if he keeps Rodriguez back, he’s probably going to go with Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin again but one option for this game would be to give Josh King a start in a front three if he is now fully fit.

The Toffees also don’t need any additional defensive cover in midfield so again he can stay with the three that played against Southampton unless he wants to rest Allan.

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At the back I’d also stick with the same four that played on Monday although if Mina was fit and he wants extra height and aerial prowess the Colombian might come back. Ancelotti can always bring Seamus Coleman off the bench if he wants or needs some extra width and attacking impetus on the right.

West Brom were soundly beaten at Goodison Park earlier in the season, even though they scored first, when Everton were enjoying that great start to the campaign.

Since then it’s been a predictable struggle for the midlands club back in the Premier League. The Baggies have conceded the most goals of any side so far this season, although arguably their best players are goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and centre-back Kyle Bartley.

They also don’t create much having scored just 20 goals the third worst in the league and as you would expect for an Allardyce team they are cheifly a threat from set-pieces.

So once more on paper, this looks as though it should be a very winnable game for the Toffees, especially given their excellent form on the road. But as always we have said that many times before and been proven wrong!

As Ancelotti emphasised this is an important game to win as three points would put the Toffees back into the top four, for a few hours anyway. And Everton then travel to west London for a tough one at Chelsea where it’s been even longer barren spell since they last won there than at Anfield.