Premier League | Gameweek 24

Feb 1, 2025 at 3pm UK

Goodison Park

Everton vs Leicester

Match preview

A lot of people are saying that it's a fight between three clubs for the two other spots that could be relegated, along with Southampton, this season. This is after Everton's big comeback under David Moyes.

The Toffees moved clear of the drop zone with a 1-0 win away at Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, thanks to Iliman Ndiaye's penalty in the first half. Moyes got as many away wins in one match as Dyche did in his previous 21.

That win marked a club Premier League first – Everton won even though they only had one shot on target in the whole match, which came from the penalty spot. Moyes said he thought his team didn't play that well, but they defended really well to get the result.

It also marks Everton's first back-to-back wins since April, after also beating Tottenham Hotspur a week earlier, and their first league goals in two matches since October.

Everton are now seven points ahead of the bottom three, and they're as close to Manchester United in 12th as they are to the Foxes, who are just one place below them.

If Everton win here, and Ipswich Town and Wolves also do well, they could end up 10 points ahead of the bottom three. But Leicester's last visit to Goodison wasn't great for the home team.

A 2-0 Leicester win didn't help the Foxes stay up in the 2022-23 season, as Everton avoided relegation ahead of them. But now the visitors have the chance to win back-to-back league matches at Goodison for the first time in their history.

But Leicester have a pretty poor record against Everton, with that success in November 2022 being their only win across the last eight head-to-heads.

That win also came when Leicester last won two top-flight matches in a row, so they can do that again after their impressive win at Spurs last weekend, which ended a run of seven straight Premier League defeats.

Ruud van Nistelrooy must be feeling the pressure, even though he's only been in the job for just over two months. But with others around him often dropping the ball, that win was probably worth its weight in gold, moving Leicester out of the drop zone, one point above Ipswich and Wolves.

Another away victory would extend that gap even more, while also dragging Everton back into the fight at the bottom.

But away from the King Power this season, they've been pretty disappointing. The win last weekend was the first time the Foxes picked up any points on the road since the start of November, when they drew at Ipswich, and only bottom-of-the-table Southampton have fewer points across the season.

Recent Performance

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Leicester City Premier League form:LLLLLW

Leicester City form (all competitions):LLWLLW

Team News

Everton's win last weekend came at a cost, as it looks like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala are set for lengthy spells on the sidelines, and could have played their last games for the club.

That leaves Beto as Everton's only fit central striker, as Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti are both sidelined, and with Mangala set to be ruled out for the season with ACL damage, James Garner's return couldn't have come at a better time.

Moyes said last week that Dwight McNeil needs to see a specialist about his knee injury, which could even require surgery, after he missed the last two months of action. Everton haven't made any moves this month yet, with numbers dropping week by week.

Van Nistelrooy was optimistic about Mads Hermansen returning to the Leicester goal after six weeks out, so it looks like Jakub Stolarczyk's spell of deputising might be coming to an end.

Wilfred Ndidi is also not far away from a return, after making big strides in his recovery by returning to training this week. Ricardo Pereira and Abdul Fatawu remain out long term, though.

Leicester have only made one acquisition this month, and he got a brief debut last weekend, as Woyo Coulibaly came on as an injury-time substitute at Spurs and helped get them over the line for three points.

Possible starting lineup

Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; O'Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Lindstrom, Gueye, Garner, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Beto

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Vestergaard, Kristensen; Winks, Soumare; Ayew, El Khannouss, Decordova-Reid; Vardy