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There’s no Jack Grealish in the Everton squad, by the way. But then did anyone really expect that?
Coventry City are in If It Ain’t Broke mode. They’re unchanged following last weekend’s 3-1 home win over Sunderland.
Everton are coming off the back of two victories over Newcastle United. They can’t play them every week, but they can near as dammit name the same starting XI, which is what’s happened in the wake of Monday night’s 1-0 win on Tyneside: Tyler Dibling comes in for Jake O’Brien, who drops to the bench.
Everton: Pickford, Rohl, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Garner, Armstrong, Dewsbury-Hall, Dibling, George, Barry.
Coventry City: Rushworth, van Ewijk, Mfuni, Pinnock, Dasilva, Yirenkyi, Torp, Rudoni, Sakamoto, Gboho, Awoniyi.
If Everton win this match tonight, they go above Liverpool; if they win it big – five goals big – they leap over Chelsea into fourth spot. Things are going pretty well for David Moyes and his men, who are outperforming expectations that were set miserably low after an underwhelming transfer window. It’s one heck of a turnaround.
But then Coventry City will be pretty pleased with their efforts so far too. After a cold start, they’ve won three of their last five matches, and while nine points and 16th place isn’t exactly the most comfortable state of affairs, there’s been more than enough promise in performances, so spirits remain high as the Sky Blues embark on their first top-flight campaign for a quarter of a century.
Two clubs heading in the right direction, then; two teams and two support bases happy and hopeful. Everton go into this evening’s showdown as favourites, but Coventry have shown plenty of moxie away from home so far, with narrow defeats at Manchester City and Tottenham, plus a win at Nottingham Forest … and they won the last staging of this particular fixture, albeit in the days of Mustapha Hadji and Gary Breen, back on Boxing Day 2000. So they’ll be dreaming of three points too. It could be lots of fun. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
