Everton manager Sean Dyche has numerous tough decisions to make in important areas of the pitch before picking his starting XI for the trip to Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.
Dyche has garnered a reputation for being stubborn with his team selection and substitutions at Everton, but after an extremely under-par performance at home to Fulham last weekend, personnel changes have been mooted.
Michael Keane, Vitalii Mykolenko, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewin will all be under pressure to keep their places in the side this weekend, especially with players waiting in the wings to come in.
Jarrad Branthwaite was surprisingly left on the bench against Fulham, as Dyche rewarded Keane for his goal and clean sheet against Ipswich Town the week previous, but it would be very unlikely that the young defender is left in reserve once again.
From centre-back to centre forward, Calvert-Lewin was completely anonymous at Goodison Park last week, extending his scoring drought to five matches, while Beto came on to replace him and scored the late leveller.
That goal means Beto has now scored more non-penalty goals (nine) than Calvert-Lewin (eight) since he joined the club last season, despite playing almost 2,000 fewer minutes.
The new Guinea-Bissau international often comes in for unfair criticism from the supporters, though, and evidently does not have the backing of Dyche, so Calvert-Lewin's place in the side will remain safe for now.
Elsewhere in attack, Chelsea-loanee Armando Broja is not yet ready to make his Everton debut either, while Youssef Chermiti is still recovering from ankle surgery over the summer.
Even though James Garner (back) and Tim Iroegbunam (foot) are absent in Everton's midfield, Doucoure will be facing competition from Orel Mangala for a spot in the starting XI this weekend alongside Idrissa Gueye.
After a consistent campaign last year, left-back Mykolenko was a nailed-on starter for the Toffees, but his form has fallen off a cliff and has since been outshone by 39-year-old Ashley Young, who played a huge role in the Everton goal last week.
Young now has three Premier League assists this season, more than any other defender, and more than the number he registered in the previous four campaigns combined.
With Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson both back from injury, and Young's place in the team secure, Mykolenko could therefore be in danger of dropping out.
However, Dyche is reluctant to make changes to his side, especially one that is now unbeaten in five games, so despite the form concerns and performances from players off the bench, a very similar XI could be named this weekend.
One injury concern that arose last week concerned Dwight McNeil, as Everton's top scorer this season limped off late on, so the Toffees will be sweating over his fitness ahead of this one, as it has been revealed he has not trained this week, so Jesper Lindstrom could be in line to start behind the striker.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Doucoure; Harrison, Lindstrom, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin
Click here to see how Southampton could line up for this Premier League outing.
Andrew Delaney
