Everton vs Norwich: Premier League preview, team news, stats, prediction, kick-off time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Everton vs Norwich in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 3pm.

Team news

Jordan Pickford is set to make his return to action for Everton in Saturday's Premier League clash with Norwich at Goodison Park.

The England goalkeeper, sidelined after suffering a shoulder injury sustained against Burnley on September 15, has been back in training, along with full-back Lucas Digne, who sustained a calf issue in Tuesday's Carabao Cup tie at QPR.

Andre Gomes also picked up a calf problem in the cup tie and will not be involved, and the Toffees still have Dominic Calvert-Lewin (quadriceps), Richarlison (knee), Seamus Coleman (hamstring), Jean-Philippe Gbamin (quadriceps) and Fabian Delph (shoulder) unavailable. James Rodriguez has left to join Al-Rayyan.

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Norwich will again be without defender Christoph Zimmermann and midfielder Todd Cantwell for the trip to Merseyside.

Centre-back Zimmermann is carrying an ankle problem, while Cantwell remains unavailable because of personal reasons.

Winger Milot Rashica (abductor) faces a late fitness test, while midfielder Mathias Normann (knee) and American forward Josh Sargent (calf/abductor) should return having sat out the midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool.

Przemyslaw Placheta is stepping up his recovery from a pre-season coronavirus infection, with full-back Sam Byram (hamstring) also still not fit.

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Follow Everton vs Norwich in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel at 5.15pm.

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Last time out...

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Jones Knows Prediction

Everton are set to be without Jordan Pickford, Seamus Coleman, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin this weekend. Alarm bells should be ringing for anyone wanting to back them at odds-on.

Not many Premier League teams could cope without being able to pick their four best performers, even against what looks the worst team in the division. I am not sure of Everton's strength in depth in forward areas.

They created a lowly expected goals figure of just 0.67 in the 3-0 defeat at Villa without Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin. Their overall numbers when one of those two is missing do take a nosedive. The win percentage stands at 51 per cent with either one of or both Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin in the team and drops to 33 per cent when one or both is missing. The average goals also drops from 1.4 per 90 minutes to 1.1.

With that in mind, I am happy to get Norwich on side with odds-against on their chances of avoiding defeat. Daniel Farke's team have lost their last 15 Premier League games, granted, - the longest run in top-flight history with the same manager in charge. However, sandwiched between those seasons was a Sky Bet Championship title-winning one. They have the tools to compete with an under-strength Everton.

Interestingly, the Toffees have lost three of their last four home Premier League games against sides starting the day bottom of table, including against Norwich in 2019. I am happy to play the away win at almost 5/1 with Sky Bet.

SCORE PREDICTION: 1-2

Opta stats

• Everton have only lost one of their last seven home league meetings with Norwich (W4 D2), though it was the last time the sides met at Goodison Park in November 2019 (0-2).
• After winning three of their first four Premier League meetings with Everton (D1), Norwich have won just two of their subsequent 14 against the Toffees in the competition (D6 L6).
• Everton have lost three of their last four home league games against sides starting the day bottom of the table (W1), including a defeat against Norwich in November 2019. The Toffees had only lost three of their previous 17 league matches at Goodison Park against bottom-placed sides before this (W10 D4).
• Everton have won each of their last three home league games, last winning more consecutively at Goodison Park between March and September 2019 under Marco Silva (6).
• Norwich have earned just six points from their last 72 available away from home in the Premier League (W1 D3 L20), and are winless in 14 on the road since beating Everton 2-0 in November 2019.
• Everton are averaging 3.6 sequences of 10+ passes per match in the Premier League this season, with only Burnley (2.6) averaging fewer. Under Carlo Ancelotti last season, the Toffees were averaging 10.7 such sequences per game, ranking 10th overall in the competition.
• Norwich City boss Daniel Farke has lost his last 15 Premier League games - this is the longest losing run by a specific manager in English top-flight history.
• Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul has been on the losing side in 99 of his 198 Premier League appearances. Only three players have ever suffered their first 100 defeats in fewer than 200 games in the competition - forward Steven Fletcher (185), defender Paul Robinson (192) and forward Matthew Jarvis (193).
• No player has scored more Premier League goals for Everton this season than new signing Demarai Gray, with his three goals coming from just three shots on target so far. Only in 2018-19 has Gray scored more goals in a single top-flight campaign (4).
• Over their last two Premier League seasons, Teemu Pukki has scored 46 per cent of Norwich's Premier League goals (13/28), netting both of the Canaries' goals so far this campaign.

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