Everton have a pretty awful record in recent years away at Tottenham, scoring just once in their last five outings there. It’s been a pretty quiet week with the manager and players putting their heads down and “mucking in”.
After spending over a quarter of a billion pounds in the summer transfer window, Spurs are off to a pretty miserable start with no goals and one point in three games. Of course, that has brought out the darkest of dark-humoured Evertonians to believe that of course we’re going to get beaten again. Don’t forget, the Toffees had an excellent chance to send them into relegation purgatory in the final game of last season, and then promptly failed to show up themselves falling to defeat.
Who’s Out?
Jack Grealish is ready to start, David Moyes said in his pre-match press conference. He had no updates on James Garner who left the game injured last week.
Summer signing Christian Nørgaard is still out, but should be the only one. The manager indicated he should be available again after the upcoming international break. The break is for the first time going to be two weeks long from September 21 to October 6, with countries playing in four games instead of the usual two.
Everton squad available vs Tottenham Hotspur
Goalkeepers: Pickford, Travers, King
Defenders: Branthwaite, Keane, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Patterson, Maitland-Niles
Midfielders: Armstrong, Dewsbury-Hall, Garner, Hackney, Nørgaard (INJURED), Röhl,
Wingers: Alcaraz, Dibling, George, Johnson, Grealish.
Strikers: Barry.
Tactics and Formation
Everton will likely go in the 4-1-4-1 that we’ve seen during the preseason, with and assuming Garner is hurt, then it’ll be Hayden Hackney in the DM role. Expect Grealish to start as will Ainsley Maitland-Niles, fresh off his heroic leveler against Manchester United last weekend.
Starting XI
Jordan Pickford
Vitaliy Mykolenko
Jarrad Branthwaite
James Tarkowski
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Surely he’s got to start?
Hayden Hackney – Changed the game when he came on last weekend
Jack Grealish
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Merlin Rohl
Tyrique George – Looked very lively even playing on the right
Thierno Barry
Bench
Mark Travers
Michael Keane
Jake O’Brien
Harrison Armstrong – Looked lacklustre on Sunday, can be a useful 60th minute sub
James Garner – Hopefully he didn’t aggravate the hernia issue he had to get an operation on
Brennan Johnson – Was off last weekend, but would love to pot one against his former team
Charly Alcaraz
Tyler Dibling – Has to be champing at the bit especially after Moyes talked him up this week
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Get used to seeing thin benches this season, maybe some kids will make it on, with Braiden Graham on it last weekend
