Tottenham’s first fixture of the new year is a tricky trip to Goodison Park, to take on an Everton side who have lost their way slightly under Roberto Martinez.
The two sides had differing fortunes in their last matches of 2015; Tottenham saw off Watford away in a last-ditch 2-1 win, whilst Everton played out a seven-goal thriller at home to Stoke, ending up on the wrong side of a 4-3 scoreline.
With Martinez again under pressure with The Toffees faltering in their bid to qualify for the Champions League, he desperately needs a win to get his side’s chances back on track.
But on the back of two away wins in a row, Tottenham will not roll over easily as they look to stay in the top four positions up until May.
Everton
After a poor last campaign, Martinez is under pressure to get things right this time around, but recently things haven’t gone well at Everton.
Just one Premier League win in their last six has seen The Toffees slip to 11th – a position they finished in last season.
Defeat to Stoke at home has raised the discontent on Merseyside, in particular at the high number of goals shipped in by The Blues.
Three away at Bournemouth – a game in which they should have won having led for the majority of it and three at home to Leicester and four against Stoke.
It shows that despite the best efforts of 15-goal Romelu Lukaku, Everton will continue to drop points unless they sort out their defending.
With James McCarthy out and Tom Cleverley also doubtful, options in midfield have become lighter for Everton and McCarthy in particular is a massive blow given his importance in shielding the back four
Going forward though, Everton are incredibly strong with Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu and Lukaku, who scored in eight successive Everton games before drawing a blank against Newcastle, all playing at the top of their game.
Deulofeu in particular has added assists to his game as well as all-round excitement and tremendous dribbling ability.
Barkley, despite criticisms of his consistency has racked up an impressive seven assists, the same as Deulofeu and his trickiness and directness will make him a hard player to pin down.
However, cutting off the supply is critical in derailing Everton. Seamus Coleman will provide able support from right back and Lukaku must not be able to be in a position to receive and finish from crosses.
Lukaku relies on support behind him and by restricting the likes of Barkley, Deulofeu and Coleman is the only way to ensure Spurs can quieten Everton.
Tottenham
Spurs left it late to beat Watford at Vicarage Road, with Heung-Min Son’s backheel able to send Spurs away from Hertfordshire with all three points.
It wasn’t all good news from Watford however, as Mousa Dembele picked up an injury that will see him miss out for a few weeks.
Without Dembele’s strength, Spurs are particularly light in midfield, with Tom Carroll lacking the ability to hold off opponents, but could move Dele Alli back alongside Eric Dier and allow Ryan Mason to play further forward.
Christian Eriksen was dropped for the clash, but found himself replacing Dembele before half time. Whether Mauricio Pochettino will give the Dane a start given his poor run of form however is another question.
Spurs are starting to turn draws away from home into victories and have the best defensive record in the division, as well as the best goal difference.
Throw into the equation that Spurs are unbeaten in their last six games against Everton and The Toffees will find a win hard to come by on Sunday.
Dembele’s absence however is a major boost to Everton and will likely use their physicality to bully Tottenham.
With Lukaku having the aerial ability over Belgian team-mates Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, much reliance is on Dier and Alli, or Nabil Bentaleb if fit, to pressurise Barkley and Deulofeu.
Erik Lamela, who has four goals in his last five, should not be taken lightly either, as the Argentine’s work rate makes him useful in the defensive third, but his frequency in giving away free kicks, cannot be afforded with Lukaku an obvious target.
At the other end though, with 10 league goals in his last 10 games, Harry Kane will be a thorn in a porous Everton defence that will struggle with the Englishman’s ability.
Last time out
29th August 2015 – Tottenham 0-0 Everton
The Everton view: Roberto Martinez, Everton manager
“Spurs have a strong squad, a large squad, they’re competing in Europe.
“They’ve got a strong mentality as a group and I don’t see them losing any sort of energy or focus over the next few months.
“If anything, being such a young team, I expect them to grow even stronger. I see them as strong contenders for a really successful finish.
“But, at the same time, we’re looking forward to that game because we feel that we’ve been a bit unfortunate with our results and a good performance against a team as good as Spurs, at Goodison, could get us in a fantastic position at the start of the new year.” (The Guardian)
The Tottenham view: Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham manager
“We don’t set limits on our possibilities. The important thing is we all believe in the way we took 18 months ago.
“We are very ambitious. The group is strong. There is enough quality. In football anything can happen.
“Lukaku is in a very good moment and is a very good player but Everton have different players who can put us in a very difficult situation.
“Everton have a very good team and after the defeat to Stoke maybe they want revenge.
“Teams now are very over motivated to play against us. They know they need to run and be aggressive against us because we are strong.
“But we need to feel confident in our skill and try to win the game.” (Sky Sports)
Prediction
Everton must win against a fellow rival to convince that they can mount a challenge for Europe.
And with Everton and Spurs each having a quality striker leading their respective lines, it falls down to whose defence holds up the strongest, but I can’t see it being Everton’s.
Everton 1-2 Tottenham
