Venue: Goodison Park
Date: 18/03/2017
Kick-off: 15:00 (BST)
Match
Everton welcome Hull City to Goodison Park on Saturday and the Toffees will be looking to leapfrog Manchester United into 6th place with a victory from the encounter.
Following their disappointment against Tottenham Hotspur, Everton managed to get back to winning ways with an impressive 3-0 triumph over West Bromwich Albion last weekend and the victory means that the Toffees have managed to close the gap on the top four.
Now Everton will be looking to overtake Manchester United in the Europa League spot by claiming another victory this weekend but it will surely not be easy against a tough Hull City side battling against relegation.
Everton Team News
James McCarthy has been ruled out of the game due to a hamstring problem while Leighton Baines is a doubt due to a back injury but that said, the latter is expected to feature on the day.
With Baines likely to be available, Koeman could well go with the same backline that started against West Brom last weekend which means that the trio of Seamus Coleman, Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka will be starting in front of Joel Robles in goal.
In midfield, the impressive duo of Gareth Barry and Morgan Schneiderlin are expected to be lining up once again while Tom Davies continues in an advanced midfield area.
Ross Barkley and Kevin Mirallas look like certain starters in the attacking position and wantaway star Romelu Lukaku will be leading the line for the Toffees.
Probable Lineups
Everton (Probable XI): Robles; Baines, Jagielka, Williams, Coleman; Schneiderlin, Barry, Mirallas, Barkley, Davies; Lukaku
Hull City (Probable XI): Jakupovic; Robertson, Ranocchia, Maguire, Elabdellaoui; Huddlestone, Grosicki, Clucas, N’Diaye, Markovic; Hernandez
Last Meeting
30/12/2016 Hull City 2 – 2 Everton
01/01/2015 Hull City 2 – 0 Everton
Prediction
Everton have not beaten Hull in their last three meetings and one can be sure that the clash on Saturday is set to be another tough test for the Toffees.
Hull have improved exponentially under Marco Silva and while Everton should have enough firepower in their squad to earn the three points, they will have to work very hard in order to do so.
Everton 2 – 1 Hull City
