Everton will be looking to bounce back from their five-goal loss at Tottenham Hotspur when they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Goodison Park in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Toffees are currently 17th in the table, just one point clear of the relegation zone, while Wolves, who beat Watford 4-0 on Thursday, occupy eighth position, five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
Everton’s position towards the bottom of the table is even more concerning considering that the Merseyside giants could be hit by a points deduction after an alleged breach of the top flight’s profit and sustainability rules, which would leave them facing relegation to the Championship.
The Toffees, for the moment, must focus on matters that they can control, but their on-field problems were on full display against Tottenham on Monday, shipping five goals in North London to suffer a heavy defeat.
Frank Lampard’s side beat Leeds United 3-0 at home on February 12 but have now lost their last three in the league to Southampton, Manchester City and Tottenham, which has left them in 17th spot in the table, only one point above 18th-placed Burnley, who have played a game more.
Everton have only played 25 Premier League matches this season, though, so they have three games in hand on the bottom two – Watford and Norwich City – and three games in hand on Leeds and Brentford directly above them, so their situation could change in the coming weeks.
The Merseyside club now have back-to-back home games against Wolves and Newcastle United before a run of matches that sees them face West Ham United, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in quick succession.
Wolves, meanwhile, will enter the contest off the back of a 4-0 win over Watford on Thursday evening, with Raul Jimenez, Daniel Podence and Ruben Neves on the scoresheet at Molineux.
Bruno Lage’s side had seen their top-four hopes suffer a huge blow when they lost three straight matches against Arsenal, West Ham United and Crystal Palace between February 24 and March 5.
However, the four-goal success over Watford will certainly have boosted confidence in the camp, and they are currently eighth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have three games in hand.
Wolves are only two points behind sixth-placed West Ham on the same number of matches, though, and will also believe that they can catch fifth-placed Man United in the coming weeks, so this is also a huge match for the visitors despite Everton’s obvious need for all three points.
Lage’s side have the fourth-best away record in the Premier League this season, picking up 23 points from 14 matches, while they recorded a 2-1 win over Everton in the reverse match at Molineux back in November.
Everton Premier League form:
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Everton form (all competitions):
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Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:
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We say: Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Everton are in desperate need of all three points, but we are finding it really difficult to back the Toffees at the moment, particularly against a strong Wolves outfit. A draw would not be the worst result in the world for either side, and we can see the two teams sharing the spoils on Sunday afternoon.