Nick Ware

Mon 8 February 2021 17:03, UK

Everton host Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night in the FA Cup fifth-round in what is the Blues’ biggest match of the season so far.

Without a major trophy since victory in the same competition in 1995 Carlo Ancelotti and co simply must make this a priority and aim to go as far as possible this season.

European qualification through a high league position is obviously the bread and butter but this could be a terrific opportunity to achieve both – win a trophy and gain automatic access to Europe.

With perennial winners Arsenal and league champions Liverpool already dumped out of the competition there is the sense that there has never been a better chance to capitalise and enter the latter stages.

After facing two Championship strugglers the Blues will face a different task altogether when Spurs come marching into Merseyside.

They might have endured a dismal run of late that saw them lose three in a row but they roared back into form on Sunday as their two talismanic forwards Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son laid West Brom to rest.

However the Blues are a point ahead of Spurs in the Premier League table with a game in hand and they won the previous fixture between the sides on the opening day of the season, winning 1-0 in London.

Here at Goodison News we have predicted the starting XI that will take Tottenham to task on Wednesday…

In goal Robin Olsen looks likely to keep his place despite an uncertain display at Old Trafford on Saturday with fitness doubts still persisting over Jordan Pickford and no date set for his return.

Mason Holgate was another Blues player who did not enjoy the best of times against Manchester United and he could make way for club captain Seamus Coleman here with the 32-year-old well rested to put in a big shift on Wednesday.

Speaking of rest, Yerry Mina enjoyed exactly that as he was dropped for Michael Keane on Saturday but we think they will reverse roles once again.

That is because Ben Godfrey is making himself undroppable at the moment with a series of sterling displays in a Blues shirt, first down the left and now in the centre of the Everton backline and this is a good test for him against one of Europe’s elite strikers in Kane if he starts for Spurs.

Lucas Digne could start at left-back in this crucial clash.

Gylfi Sigurdsson was unfortunate to be dropped at Old Trafford after scoring in a midweek win over Leeds United but could capitalise on a potential injury to James Rodriguez.

The Colombian came off in the second half of the draw to Manchester United with Carlo Ancelotti revealing an issue to his calf [Liverpool Echo] so we think he is unlikely to be risked from the off which should give a clearer indication as to what formation Everton will play.

As has been proven on many occasions Sigurdsson is best off operating in a more advanced central position so one would expect a 4-2-3-1 set-up to be adopted here with possibly Andre Gomes missing out in midfield, with a duo of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Tom Davies instead.

That leaves three spaces to be filled in the front three and such is the importance of the game it would be unthinkable not to start Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison.

New recruit Joshua King would surely have been primed for a starting role but he played in an earlier rounds (v Oldham Athletic and Crawley Town) for Bournemouth and as such is ineligible to play, so Alex Iwobi should get the nod on the right hand side and his pace and trickery should be a tough task for Ben Davies to deal with on the left hand of defence, with the Spurs defender suffering of late.

This all means there could be four changes from the side that battled back so heroically at Old Trafford with Coleman, Mina, Sigurdsson and Iwobi coming in for Holgate, Keane, Rodriguez and Gomes.

This is a potentially season-defining game for the Blues and one we hope they attack with the vigour it deserves.

Spurs are not all that they were cracked up to be at the start of the season and confidence looks to be on the floor there with a win against basement boys West Brom merely papering over the cracks.

A place in the quarter-final of the FA Cup beckons for the Blues.

In other Everton news, see who our Super Fans awarded their MOTM after the dramatic draw with Manchester United.