Venue: St. Mary’s Stadium
Date: 27/11/2016
Kick-off: 16:30 (BST)
Match
Everton travel to the St. Mary’s Stadium to square off against Southampton this weekend and the Toffees will surely be desperate to claim a good result on the day.
Following their humbling against Chelsea, Everton needed to bounce back with a victory against struggling Swansea City at Goodison Park but they were unable to do so after managing only a 1-1 draw.
Things could have been a lot worse if it was not for Seamus Coleman’s late equalizer and it is clear to see that the Toffees are stuttering a bit at the moment.
Now Everton prepare for a tough encounter against Southampton away from home on Sunday and it will be interesting to see if Ronald Koeman’s men will be able to get a positive result at the South Coast.
Everton Team News
The likes of Muhamed Besic, Arouna Kone and Matthew Pennington are all struggling with long term injury problems and will be unavailable this weekend.
The backline on the day for Everton should remain unchanged with the likes of Maarten Stekelenburg, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams and Seamus Coleman all starting.
Gareth Barry is available once again after serving his suspension against Swansea City and the veteran is expected to return to the lineup, possibly at the expense of James McCarthy and Idrissa Gueye is certain to be his partner at the middle of the park.
In the attacking positions, Yannick Bolasie, Ross Barkley and Kevin Mirallas are expected to start while the likes of Tom Cleverely, Gerard Deulofeu and Tom Cleverley provide the other options.
Romelu Lukaku has been enduring a bit of a frustrating time in front of goal over the past few weeks and he will surely want to end his mini drought in the clash with Southampton on Sunday.
Probable Lineups
Southampton (Probable XI): Forster; Bertrand, Fonte, Van Dijk, Cedric; Davis, Romeu, Clasie, Boufal, Redmond; Austin
Everton (Probable XI): Stekelenburg; Baines, Jagielka, Williams, Coleman; Gueye, Barry, Mirallas, Barkley, Bolasie; Lukaku
Last Meeting
16/04/2016 Everton 1 – 1 Southampton
15/08/2015 Southampton 0 – 3 Everton
Prediction
Everton enjoyed a dominant 3-0 victory over Southampton the last time they visited the St. Mary’s Stadium but a repeat of such a result on Sunday looks a bit unlikely.
Southampton are going strong at the moment and the match is expected to be a very close affair. Koeman will surely be keen on earning a good result against his former employers but it does look like the match has a draw written all over it.
Southampton 1 – 1 Everton
