Everton vs Southampton. Premier League.
Goodison ParkAttendance38,891.
Monday 2 January 2017 14:53, UK
Jose Fonte is set to replace the suspended Virgil van Dijk as Southampton travel to Everton in the Premier League on Monday afternoon.
The Saints captain was left out of the starting XI during the New Year's Eve loss to West Brom, during which the Dutch defender was sent off and will now miss out on the trip to Goodison Park.
Fonte is likely to replace him in the back-line, and will be looking to avoid a third successive Premier League defeat which they last suffered in December 2014.
Everton have been strong at home this season though, losing just one of their last 12 games on Merseyside and are also unbeaten in their last 11 home fixtures against Southampton.
Toffees manager Ronald Koeman will also face his former side for the second time since his summer switch, with the Saints winning the reverse fixture in November thanks to Charlie Austin's first-minute strike.
Koeman is expected to choose from an unchanged squad and has no new injury or suspension worries following Friday's 2-2 draw at Hull.
Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenberg remains doubtful due to the dead leg that has kept him out of the last two matches with Joel Robles likely to continue in his place.
Elsewhere for Everton, midfielder James McCarthy (hamstring) and full-back Bryan Oviedo are still out.
Nathan Redmond will return after suspension for Southampton, while Ryan Bertrand should come back into the squad after being rested for the West Brom clash.
The Toffees beat Southampton 7-1 in November 1996, one of just two times they've netted seven goals in a Premier League game (also 7-1 v Sunderland in November 2007).
Everton have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League games at Goodison Park (W6 D5), although that defeat came last time out to rivals Liverpool.
Everton have won just three of their last 14 Premier League matches - losing twice as many games in this period (W3 D5 L6).
Koeman has won 27 points in his first 19 Premier League games as Everton manager in the Premier League; six fewer than he'd won at this stage in to his tenure at Southampton (33 points).
Southampton have exactly the same record at the halfway point of the Premier League season under Claude Puel, as they did last season under Koeman (P19 W6 D6 L7, 24 points).
Romelu Lukaku has only scored one goal in 12 Premier League appearances for Everton in the month of January (960 minutes).
Leighton Baines has been involved in more goals than any other defender in Premier League history (78 - 29 goals,
Southampton look like they've gone. With Virgil van Dijk getting sent off against West Ham, I can't see them getting much at Goodison Park. They've been very negative and don't look like scoring goals.
Their manager seems to set them up to avoid defeat and they sit back too much, as we saw after they took the lead against Tottenham. You can't be like that in this league. I think Everton will win very, very easily and start 2017 as they should look to carry on for the rest of the year with a decent team.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0
Two sides who failed to justify favouritism do battle at Goodison Park, and it's Everton who are priced up as the most likely winners at 23/20, with the draw 9/4 and Southampton a similar price at 12/5.
Ross Barkley got Everton out of jail at Hull and is 3/1 to score his third league goal of the season, but it's Lukaku who heads the first goalscorer betting at 7/2.
Austin scored the only goal when these sides met in the reverse, but in his absence Shane Long may again be relied upon - he's 9/4 to score and 12/1 for a brace.
