Venue: KC Stadium
Date: 30/12/2016
Kick-off: 20:00 (BST)
Everton travel to the KC Stadium to square off against Hull City on Friday night and the Toffees will be hopeful of earning a victory from the encounter in order to aid their hopes of moving into the top four.
Following their heart breaking loss to Liverpool in the Merseyside derby, Everton returned back to winning ways with a convincing 2-0 triumph over champions Leicester City on Boxing Day and the three points means that the Toffees managed to move into 6th place in the Premier League table.
Now Everton will be looking to ramp up their pursuit to claim one of the spots in the top four and Ronald Koeman will be confident of his side getting another positive result when they travel to the KC Stadium to square off against Hull City on Sunday.
Everton Team News
Ronald Koeman went with a 3-4-2-1 system against Leicester City last time out and considering the fact that the formation worked so well, it is very likely that the Dutchman will stick to the same tactic on Friday as well.
The likes of Muhamed Besic, Yannick Bolasie, James McCarthy, Bryan Oviedo, Matthew Pennington and Maarten Stekelenburg all remain ruled out for Everton at the moment but there are no fresh injury concerns for Koeman to deal with.
Joel Robles will continue in goal and he will be shielded by a backline consisting of Mason Holgate, Phil Jagielka and Ramiro Funes Mori, while the wing back positions will be taken up by Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman.
The duo of Idrissa Gueye and Gareth Barry form the central midfield partnership once again and the attacking midfield positions are expected to be occupied by Aaron Lennon and Kevin Mirallas. Romelu Lukaku will be leading the line for Everton and he will be keen on adding to his goal during the week.
Probable Lineups
Hull City (Probable XI): Marshall; Dawson, Davies, Maguire; Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Clucas, Roberston; Snodgrass; Mbokani
Everton (Probable XI): Robles; Baines, Funes Mori, Williams, Holgate, Coleman; Lennon, Gueye, Barry, Mirallas; Lukaku
Last Meeting
01/01/2015 Hull City 2 – 0 Everton
03/12/2014 Everton 1 – 1 Hull City
Prediction
Hull City actually managed a 2-0 victory over Everton during their last encounter with the Toffees at Goodison Park a couple of years ago but a repeat result this time around looks very unlikely.
Hull cannot seem to buy a win at the moment and with Everton showing good form in recent times, a narrow away win is the most likely result on the night.
Hull City 1-2 Everton
