Venue: Turf Moor
Date: 26/10/2014
Kick-off: 13:30(BST)
Match
Everton will be looking to continue their revival when they travel to Turf Moor to square off against a struggling Burnley side on Sunday.
After a disappointing set of results, Everton seem to have got their season back on track with a convincing win over Aston Villa as well as a good result against Lille in the Europa League, and the Toffees will now be hopeful that they can embark on a good run of form.
Now with a clash against winless Burnley coming up next, Everton should be confident of picking up their second consecutive victory on the trot.
However, as the cliché goes, there are no easy games in the Premier League and Burnley are most certainly set to give Everton a tough time as they are desperate for a victory themselves.
Therefore, Roberto Martinez’s men will need to be at their absolute best in order to claim a victory despite their opponents’ woeful form at the moment and it will be interesting to see how the Toffees’ acquit themselves in a potentially tricky encounter.
Everton Team News
Martinez rested no less than six regulars for Everton’s midweek clash against Lille but one can be sure that the Spaniard will field his full strength squad for the clash against Burnley this weekend.
With John Stones out with injury, there will probably not be many alterations to the backline that started against Aston Villa last week – which means that the quartet of Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Antolin Alcaraz and Seamus Coleman should retain their place in the lineup in front of Tim Howard in goal.
In midfield, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy are set to continue their efficient partnership while the fit-again Ross Barkley will be deployed in behind the lone striker in a supporting role.
Kevin Mirallas is still unavailable so Steven Naismith will most probably be pushed out wide right while Steven Pienaar should get the nod ahead of Aiden McGeady on the left flank.
Romelu Lukaku looks set to be leading the line once again for the Toffees and despite his goalscoring exploits against Aston Villa, the striker will need to improve on his performances.
Probable Lineups
Burnley (Probable XI): Heaton; Mee, Shackell, Duff, Trippier; Boyd, Marney, Jones, Arfield; Jutkiewicz, Ings
Everton (Probable XI): Howard; Baines, Distin, Stones, Coleman; Mirallas, McCarthy, Barkley, Barry, McGeady; Lukaku
Form
Burnley: D D L D L
Everton: D D L W D
Last Meeting
28/12/2009 Everton 2 – 0 Burnley
23/08/2009 Burnley 1 – 0 Everton
Prediction
Given Burnley’s woeful run of form and Everton’s revival in recent times, the Toffees should be heading into the clash as favourites.
Burnley have been very poor going forward while even their usually solid backline has let them down over the last few matches. Everton on the other hand, seem to be hitting their stride at the right moment and are showing signs that they can eventually challenge for Europe this season despite their poor start to the campaign.
That being said though, the match is anything but a foregone conclusion as Burnley as not as bad as they are made out to be and with inspirational striker Danny Ings making a return, the Clarets look like they can cause the Toffees’ problems.
From Everton’s perspective, they need to be solid at the back while their underperforming attacking players namely – Romelu Lukaku and Steven Pienaar now need to step up to the plate.
Defensively, the Toffees were solid last time out and will have to continue their good run this week as well while the likes of Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman will most certainly be looking to make marauding runs into the opposition box at every given opportunity.
The match will not be a cakewalk for Everton but if they play to their maximum potential, Martinez’s men should be able to register a relatively comfortable victory on the day.
Burnley 0 – 2 Everton
