Everton welcome Southampton to Goodison Park on Thursday, with just a single point separating the two teams in the Premier League table.
Eleventh-place Everton (44 points) come into this game on the back of a poor display in a defeat to Tottenham, while thirteenth-place Southampton (43 points) will be buoyed following a stunning win over Manchester City.
To say that Saints pulled off one of the shocks of the season on Sunday would be a massive understatement.
After Man City thumped Liverpool 4-0 last week, nobody gave Saints a chance against Pep Guardiola’s side. But Che Adams’ spectacular long-range lob earned Southampton a famous victory over last season’s champions.
Prior to the visit of Man City, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men had already secured their top-flight status for another year with wins over Norwich and Watford.
So, considering that they didn’t really have anything to play for, Saints must be given huge credit for their professional performance last time out.
By contrast, Everton’s previous display was far from ideal. The Toffees created very few goalscoring opportunities against a lackluster Tottenham team and eventually lost 1-0.
After taking seven points from a possible nine before Monday’s defeat, the manner of Everton’s recent loss will undoubtedly concern Carlo Ancelotti.
Everton and Southampton both spent time in the drop zone earlier in the season and have flirted with relegation at times.
However, both sides have since secured mid-table safety and will now be looking to finish as high up the Premier League table as possible.
Trends show that Everton have been very strong at home recently, although Southampton have been very impressive on their travels.
Everton have only lost three of their previous 23 games at Goodison Park in all competitions, while Saints have won six of their last eight Premier League away outings.
Head-to-head: Back in November, Everton picked up a 2-1 victory over Southampton in the reverse fixture at St. Mary’s.
In fact, Everton are unbeaten in four of their previous five meetings with Saints, with two wins and two draws coming since 2018.
Team news: Everton have a number of injury concerns. Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott are all absent, while Alex Iwobi and Mason Holgate are doubts.
Southampton also have a few issues, with Moussa Djnepo, Yan Valery and Jannik Vestergaard ruled out. It is unclear whether Sofiane Boufal and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will be fit.
There really is very little to separate these two sides at the moment, but Everton’s strong home record stands them in good stead.
Forebet predicts that Everton will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to victory.