Hoping to replicate last season's astonishing Amex Stadium slaughter, Everton head south to square off with Brighton & Hove Albion in Saturday's Premier League encounter.
The Seagulls welcome their Merseyside counterparts on the back of a 5-0 pummelling of Sheffield United, while Sean Dyche's troops held managerless Crystal Palace to a 1-1 draw on Monday.
Match preview
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Absent from the loss to Tottenham Hotspur due to suspension and dental surgery, Roberto De Zerbi's troops shared their manager's pain in that excruciating late 2-1 defeat in North London, but the Seagulls boss downed the perfect tonic at Bramall Lane on February 18.
Helped out by an early red card to Mason Holgate - who took the walk of shame for a sickening challenge on Kaoru Mitoma - Brighton put five past the Premier League's basement boys without reply through Facundo Buonanotte, Danny Welbeck, Jack Robinson's own goal and a second-half Simon Adingra brace.
The five-goal obliteration of Sheffield United came less than a month after Brighton had also notched a quintet of strikes against the Blades in the FA Cup, and by making lightning strike twice at Bramall Lane, the Seagulls leapfrogged Newcastle United into seventh place in the Premier League table.
One point clear of the Magpies in the Europa Conference League qualifying spot, De Zerbi's troops also continued a highly peculiar pattern last weekend; since sinking Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 at the end of December, Brighton have scored at least four goals in every other game for the past nine matches.
Two of those prolific showings have come versus Spurs and Crystal Palace on their Amex patch, where their unbeaten run across all tournaments reads 11 games in all tournaments since September's Europa League loss to AEK Athens, and not since August have De Zerbi's men come out second best in a Premier League home game.
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Everton's unbeaten Goodison Park streak is not so praiseworthy, but the Toffees are yet to suffer a Premier League loss on familiar territory since the turn of the year, sharing the spoils for the third top-flight home game running when Crystal Palace arrived in Walton.
Owing to Roy Hodgson's hospital scare and subsequent resignation, Ray Lewington manned the touchline for Palace against Sean Dyche's Everton, who fell 1-0 down to a Jordan Ayew stunner before Amadou Onana rescued a point with six minutes of normaltime remaining.
That two-goal draw was enough to lift Everton back above the dotted line into 17th place, where they remain thanks to Liverpool's 4-1 crushing of Luton Town on Wednesday night, keeping the Toffees clear of their newly-promoted foes owing to their superior goal difference.
Dyche's charges continue to do their survival prospects no favours at all, though, as after prevailing in four straight Premier League games in a two-week December period, the Toffees have failed to triumph in any of their last eight, the longest current winless sequence in the English top flight.
However, few Brighton or Everton fans can jog last season's sensational 5-1 Toffees win at the Amex from their memory, and Dyche's men held the Seagulls to a 1-1 draw in November's meeting at Goodison Park, meaning that there has not been a home triumph in the last six meetings between the two outfits.
Team News
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A quintet of infirm Brighton players were unavailable for the thrashing of Sheffield United, including Joao Pedro - scorer of a hat-trick at Bramall Lane in the FA Cup - whose thigh injury is expected to keep him sidelined for another few weeks.
James Milner (muscle), Jack Hinshelwood (foot) and Solly March (knee) are also confined to the treatment room, and De Zerbi also revealed on Friday that Mitoma is nursing a back injury and will need assessing on Saturday. In brighter news, knee victim Julio Enciso is confirmed to be making his return to the matchday squad as a substitute.
The Brighton boss withdrew defensive duo Tariq Lamptey and Adam Webster at half time in the win over Sheffield United, but those changes appeared to be tactical in nature from De Zerbi, who may have taken their previous fitness concerns into consideration too.
Regarding Everton's availability, Dele Alli (groin) and Arnaut Danjuma (ankle) will not be back in the first-team picture just yet, and nor will the hapless Andre Gomes (calf), who is at least in the final stages of his recovery from his latest issue.
Captain Seamus Coleman was missing from the ranks for the visit of Palace due to illness, but the 35-year-old should battle back from his bug in time for Saturday, where fellow full-back Vitaliy Mykolenko should also shake off a knock sustained in the clash with Palace.
In terms of alterations, Onana will surely consign Idrissa Gueye down to the bench after his pivotal late intervention versus the Eagles, while Jack Harrison should also come into consideration to replace Ashley Young on the flank.
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Verbruggen; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Dunk, Estupinan; Gilmour, Gross; Adingra, Buonanotte, Fati; Welbeck
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Onana, Garner, McNeil; Doucoure; Calvert-Lewin
We say: Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Everton
Recent history suggests that Brighton will need to chalk up multiple goals to stand a chance of putting last year's result right, as in each of their nine Premier League games in which they have scored once in 2023-24, they have failed to win any of them.
However, an Everton side experiencing a painful plateau have just three goals to show from their last six top-flight games, and with Brighton seldom outfought at the Amex, De Zerbi's men should put three more points on the board this weekend.
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Ben Knapton
