View: Iwobi and Davies may return in five changes – Everton predicted XI v Leicester
After recording a seventh win in nine against Sheffield Wednesday, Everton will be bidding to keep up their great form against Leicester City when they welcome them to Goodison Park on Wednesday.
It is a vital game in the race for the European spots this season with the Blues currently six points behind the Foxes with a game in hand, so a victory will go a long way to helping them catch the visitors.
Leicester have won their last five games and are unbeaten in eight so a victory, either way, will see a long unbeaten end for one of these sides.
Here at Goodison News we have devised our predicted XI for Tuesday’s big game that could propel the Blues into the Champions League places.
Jordan Pickford will return to the side after Robin Olsen was given a run-out in the cup on Sunday and he will be joined by Michael Keane and Luas Digne who also sat out the fixture.
Keane will renew the impressive defence partnership he has struck with Yerry Mina this season while Digne should revert to a more familiar left-back role after playing higher up against Wolves in their previous league outing.
Right-back looks tricky to call but Seamus Coleman has only started successive games once since October so it looks like he will be left out after starting against Sheffield Wednesday, so Mason Holgate should get the nod ahead of Ben Godfrey with the latter used more on the left so far this season.
There is a chance Godfrey could make his 13th successive start for the Blues in midfield where he has played before in a successful spell at Shrewsbury Town earlier in his budding career but against the likes of Wilfried Ndidi, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison in the Foxes midfield this could be a tough ask.
There is a space left open in the midfield with Abdoulaye Doucoure serving a one-match suspension following his fifth yellow card of the season at Molineux and Allan still not back to full fitness.
That leaves Tom Davies and Andre Gomes as the only recognised senior options in midfield.
Davies was rested on Sunday so looks like a sure-fire starter against Leicester while Gomes has two assists in his last two games and will hope this is the start of a more consistent run in the side, with this the ideal opportunity for him to make his mark.
With the lack of options in midfield, we could see Carlo Ancelotti move slightly away from his preferred 4-3-3 into a 4-2-3-1 with James Rodriguez dictating play from the centre.
The Colombian looks to be in great nick after making his return from a five-game lay off at the start of this year and he collected two assists against Wednesday in a sharp display.
Richarlison scored his first goal for Everton on Sunday since the reverse fixture v Leicester on December 16 and should be buzzing with confidence as he takes his place on the left-hand side.
Alex Iwobi was left out of the squad on the weekend but scored the opener against Wolves last week and has been in fine form himself with the 24-year-old showing great trickery and enthusiasm from the wing.
He should start from the right while Dominic Calvert-Lewin will resume his central striking role after scoring a much-needed goal against the Championship strugglers in the FA Cup, his first since December 5 v Burnley.
This all means that there will be five changes from Sunday’s game with Olsen, Coleman, Godfrey, Doucoure and Gylfi Sigurdsson all dropping out.
In other Everton news, big Sky Sports update on Blues striker search.