17th-placed Everton host rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Premier League basement battle on Monday afternoon.
The World Cup-enforced hiatus was a blessing for both sides. Everton lost six of their final eight matches before Christmas, signing off with consecutive, damning defeats to Bournemouth in the space of four grim November days.
The pause allowed Julen Lopetegui to take the helm at Molineux. After a Spanish training camp, Wolves returned to defeat Gillingham 2-0 in the midweek round of Carabao Cup action for Lopetegui’s debut.
Here’s everything you need to know about the meeting between two early-season strugglers.
Everton vs Wolves H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Current Form (Last Five Games)
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Everton team news
Centre-backs Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey have returned to training during the break. Mason Holgate, however, is continuing his recovery from a knee injury.
Tom Davies is another welcome returnee but James Garner is set to be sidelined until February with a lower back problem. Dominic Calvert-Lewin may not be ready for the Boxing Day bout but is accelerating his recovery – the same could be said for long-term absentee Andros Townsend.
Everton Starting 11 (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Patterson, Coady, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Gueye, Onana; Gordon, Iwobi, Gray; Maupay.
Bench: Begovic, Keane, McNeil, Doucoure, Coleman, Davies, Mina, Godfrey, Cannon.
Wolves team news
The long-term absentee trio of Chiquinho, Sasa Kalajdzic and Pedro Neto are set to remain sidelined – although Neto could yet play a role this season. Boubacar Traore is nursing a knock while Jonny Castro Otto is carrying a hamstring strain.
However, Lopetegui was able to summon Raul Jimenez off the bench on Wednesday night. The Mexico international marked his first club appearance since August with a converted penalty and could be in line for a start this Monday.
Wolves Starting 11 (4-3-3): Sa; Semedo, Collins, Kilman, Ait-Nouri; Nunes, Neves, Moutinho; Guedes, Jimenez, Podence.
Bench: Sarkic, Toti, Bueno, Lembikisa, Hodge, Ronan, A Traore, Hwang, Costa.
Between them, Everton and Wolves have scored a pitiful 19 Premier League goals this season – one more than Erling Haaland.
Only the division’s top-three have conceded fewer goals than Everton this term – although Frank Lampard owes Jordan Pickford a great deal of thanks for that record considering no side has faced more shots than the Toffees.
Lopetegui may have endured a tumultuous end to his time at Sevilla, but the
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