Vitalii Mykolenko and Ellis Simms to be axed, Ben Godfrey and Demarai Gray to start – Everton predicted XI v Leeds United
Sean Dyche could look to shuffle his pack when Everton host Leeds at Goodison Park in their relegation clash on Saturday afternoon (18 February).
Dyche has named 12 players across his two starting lineups so far, earning a victory over league leaders Arsenal in his first game before a disappointing defeat to local rivals Liverpool most recently.
But now with a huge game against a side they are directly competing with for survival in the Premier League, the boss could look to make a couple of extra changes to his team to turn the fortunes around.
In goal Jordan Pickford is almost certain to continue in the starting lineup, despite his costly error in the Merseyside derby that saw him criticised by both Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher.
Defensively the team didn’t play particularly well and Dyche could look to freshen things up slightly, considering he had five defenders on the bench for the game all ready to play.
Seamus Coleman will continue at right-back with Nathan Patterson still recovering from injury, while Conor Coady and James Tarkowski seem sure to get the nod at centre-back despite Yerry Mina and Michael Keane being available.
But at left-back Vitalii Mykolenko has struggled for form in recent months and could need to drop out of the side to find an improvement. Ruben Vinagre may be the most pointless signing of all time, which allows for Ben Godfrey to potentially slot into the position and add more athleticism and height to the side.
In midfield there isn’t likely to be too much change, because they have largely delivered what Dyche wants and have the physical profile he likes. But on top of that, there aren’t many other options available to him either.
Abdoulaye Doucoure, Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye make the team hard to break down and also provide lots of energy in the heart of the pitch, but they do lack a bit of creativity which could see some changes in attack to help with that.
Alex Iwobi has been moved to a winger position since the sale of Anthony Gordon and is likely to continue there because of his off-ball work as much as anything else, while Dwight McNeil has been brought in on the left-wing with his familiarity of working with Dyche helpful to that.
Demarai Gray has struggled for regular game time since Dyche came in at Everton but was brought on in attack against Liverpool and looked sharp, so with Dominic Calvert-Lewin still doubtful and Ellis Simms struggling in his first start that could be a direct change to add more pace to the side.
Predicted Everton XI v Leeds: Pickford; Coleman, Coady, Tarkowski, Godfrey; Gueye, Onana, Doucoure; Iwobi, Gray, McNeil.