da premier bet： Everton will look to strengthen their grip on eighth position in the Premier League table when they host relegation battlers Southampton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
da bet7k： While they have little to play in for in terms of European qualification or battling against the drop at this stage of the season, the Merseyside outfit will be keen to secure an eighth-place finish and end the campaign above the likes of Leicester City and Newcastle United in the standings.
The Toffees are certainly ending on a high as things stand following successive wins against Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town – taking 14 points from the last 21 available – with the 2-0 victory against the Terriers last time out just their third on the road in the top flight this term.
It won’t be an easy task to make it three successive victories against a Saints side that showed they are ready to battle to preserve their Premier League status with a 2-1 success against Bournemouth at St Mary’s last weekend.
Allardyce made one change from the side that beat Newcastle 1-0 for the trip to Yorkshire last time out, and the 63-year-old, who the Goodison Park faithful on Twitter want gone and will be worried could stay beyond the end of the season if they continue to win, could be contemplating making some more against the south coast outfit on Saturday.
Here is how Everton must line up against Southampton, ahead of Jordan Pickford in goal…
Allardyce has stuck with the same back five of Pickford, Seamus Coleman, Phil Jagielka, Michael Keane and Leighton Baines in recent weeks, and following two clean sheets in a row and Baines picking up an assist in the win against Huddersfield last week, there is little reason to change things around.
Ramiro Funes Mori would be the only likely player to come into the back four in order to give him an opportunity to stake a claim for a spot in the XI next season, but as he did at the John Smith’s Stadium, the Argentina international should once again take his place on the substitutes’ bench.
Morgan Schneiderlin was a doubt ahead of the trip to Yorkshire last weekend after going off with a dead leg in the 1-0 win against Newcastle previously, and while Allardyce didn’t need to take a risk on the Frenchman given he has youngsters like Beni Baningime and Tom Davies – as well as the experienced Wayne Rooney – available, he did.
It shows the confidence that the 63-year-old boss has in Schneiderlin, and the 28-year-old should continue his impressive partnership with Idrissa Gueye against one of his former clubs on Saturday evening.
Allardyce decided to go with a front four of Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney, Cenk Tosun and Nikola Vlasic against Huddersfield, with the latter given a rare opportunity to impress.
The Croatian youngster certainly did well on the right as Theo Walcott switched to the left, and he must start ahead of Yannick Bolasie again against Southampton in order to give Ryan Bertrand plenty of problems.
Tosun returned to the score-sheet against the Terriers and must start with Walcott on the left flank, and Allardyce should make a huge decision by bringing Davy Klaassen in from the cold in place of Wayne Rooney in the central attacking midfield role.
It would give him and the club an opportunity to see if the Netherlands international can still make an impact and have a future at Goodison Park, and it is a chance that the player deserves having been frozen out.
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