Everton will look to boost their chances of securing a seventh-place finish this season when they face the team currently in that position, Burnley, at Turf Moor on Saturday, on the back of another disappointing performance and result on the road as they were beaten 1-0 by Watford at Vicarage Road last weekend.
The Toffees would have known that they could close the gap on the Clarets and Leicester City above them in the table after both sides could only manager 1-1 draws against Southampton and Stoke City respectively earlier in the day, but they failed to take advantage with Troy Deeney’s second-half goal proving to be the difference between the two teams.
The defeat left Sam Allardyce’s side three points adrift of Sean Dyche’s men ahead of their trip to Lancashire, where they will face an outfit that haven’t picked up three points in the top flight since December 12.
While that statistic will give the visitors hope, their poor away record at the end of 2017 and in 2018 certainly will not as they have lost five straight matches on the road in all competitions.
Allardyce will be considering making some changes to the XI that lost in Hertfordshire, and the former England boss will regret if he fails to make a couple of alterations.
Here are two big changes the 63-year-old must make to his Everton team when they face Burnley…
Morgan Schneiderlin for Tom Davies
Aside from two enforced changes because of injury in the back four, Allardyce decided to go with exactly the same XI that had beaten Crystal Palace 3-1 at Goodison Park for the trip to Watford last Saturday.
However, the decision to play a 4-3-3 system at Vicarage Road didn’t work and the 63-year-old manager must look to switch things up at Turf Moor.
Everton certainly need some more defensive onus in the middle of the park on the road given their recent results away from home, and while he may not be popular with the fans there is no doubt that Schneiderlin would be more useful from a defensive point of view than young Davies is, and he will be more effective in winning the ball back in key areas.
Yannick Bolasie for Wayne Rooney
Rooney started against Watford following an impressive display in the win against Crystal Palace, but he struggled at Vicarage Road and while he is generally reliable in possession, he certainly wasn’t against the Hornets.
Meanwhile, Southampton caused Burnley plenty of problems last week – at least in the closing stages – in wide areas through the likes of Nathan Redmond and Josh Sims, and Allardyce should consider starting Bolasie on one wing and Theo Walcott on the opposite flank at Turf Moor.
However, rather than stick with the 4-3-3 the former England boss should match up with the Clarets and choose a 4-4-1-1 system, which would also allow Gylfi Sigurdsson to play through the middle – an area of the pitch he would prefer to be in.
Do you agree, Toffees fans? Let us know below.