Week 24 – Everton vs Leicester – Sport Grill

Everton meet Leicester in a huge match in the race for Premier League survival.

Victory will lift Everton up to 15th position until Sunday afternoon at least, whilst Leicester will stay out of the relegation zone with a win.

Team News

Orel Mangala is ruled out until next season for Everton after he suffered an ACL injury during the Toffees’ win at Brighton last weekend.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is also sidelined after he suffered a hamstring injury in that game.

Armando Broja (leg), Youssef Chermiti (thigh), Seamus Coleman (calf), Dwight McNeil (knee) and Tim Iroegbunam (foot) remain absent.

Leicester could welcome goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen back into contention following his recovery from a groin injury.

Wilfried Ndidi (hamstring), Abdul Fatawu (ACL) and Ricardo Pereira (muscle) remain absent.

When is Kick-Off?

Everton host Leicester at Goodison Park on Saturday 1 February at 3pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.

Stat Attack

• Everton have lost one of their last eight league meetings against Leicester (W3, D4, L1).
• Leicester have lost one of their last five league trips to Everton (W2, D2, L1).
• Two of Everton’s last three home games against Leicester ended in 1-1 draws, except for a 2-0 away win in November 2022.
• James Tarkowski has made more headed clearances than any other Everton player this season (82).
• Bobby De Cordova-Reid has made more substitute appearances than any other Leicester player in the top-flight this season (12).

Prediction

With safety now looking a strong possibility following a lucky win at Brighton in which a penalty went their way amidst resilient defending, Everton now need to back that up with another victory because if they lose here and Ipswich plus Wolves win elsewhere then they’re right back in the scrap for survival.

Leicester meanwhile were simply clinical in their victory at Tottenham where they definitely produced a strong defensive display yet were efficient when attacking opportunities fell their way, which will be more likely to happen here given how defensively Everton tend to play.

This game though is one which Everton know will gift them a solid gap to the drop if can win here and Ipswich plus Wolves lose, so I do expect them to bring more attacking fight but a draw wouldn’t be a surprise.

Prediction: Everton 1-1 Leicester