Preview: Everton vs. Brentford - prediction, team news, lineups

Ninth-placed Brentford head to Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium in the 20th round on Sunday, aiming to leapfrog the Toffees in the Premier League table.

The West London club are on their longest unbeaten league run under Keith Andrews, but they must end a three-match winless run at Everton to preserve a four-match unbeaten sequence under their Irish boss.

Match preview

The feeling approaching Christmas was that Everton faced an uphill challenge facing Chelsea and Arsenal in consecutive rounds, and so it proved as David Moyes's team were beaten 2-0 and 1-0, respectively.

Having headed into those games claiming four wins from five, losing only to Newcastle United (4-1), slipping to consecutive losses dampened the mood on Merseyside heading into the festive period.

While a goalless draw at Burnley on December 27 ended their run of losses, they headed into their final match of 2026 after failing to score in three straight games.

That ended against Nottingham Forest on December 30, when they defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the City Ground, where James Garner and Thierno Barry scored for the Toffees.

Now aiming to claim consecutive league wins for the first time in a month and for the fourth time in 2025-26, Moyes's troops hope to take advantage of the away side's broader struggles on the road to avoid being leapfrogged by the Bees.

Although Andrews's Bees defeated hopeless Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final away match of 2025, securing a 2-0 win at Molineux, the West London club had been beaten in four straight away games hitherto that triumph, strikingly scoring one goal in those setbacks against Crystal Palace (2-0), Brighton & Hove Albion (2-1), Arsenal (2-0) and Tottenham Hotspur (2-0).

While it remains to be seen if the capital club can claim consecutive away league wins for the first time in the top flight since May 2025, previous trips to Everton have ended in disappointment.

Not since a 3-2 win in May 2022 have the London club even scored on the road at the Toffees, falling to a pair of 1-0 defeats before playing out a goalless encounter in the corresponding fixture last season, albeit at the now departed Goodison Park.

The ongoing run without success comes amid a wider inability to defeat their Merseyside opponents, whom they have not beaten in six league meetings, drawing three in that time.

Two of the draws came in both fixtures last season, pointing to the Bees edging closer to ending the sequence of matches without maximum points in this fixture.

Indeed, the travelling supporters can head to Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time, buoyed by a four-match unbeaten league run — the team's longest under Andrews — which offers hope for the Londoners, who could move level with fifth-placed Chelsea on 30 if they win on Sunday and the managerless Blues lose at Manchester City.

Everton Premier League form:

Brentford Premier League form:

Brentford form (all competitions):

Team News

Everton have a few injury issues to deal with, given hamstring injuries to Seamus Coleman, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jarrad Branthwaite, while Carlos Alcaraz and Michael Keane will be assessed before Sunday.

Also absent are the club's Africa Cup of Nations participants Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye, who are with the Senegal squad in Morocco, where the competition is in the round of 16.

With both leading scorers Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye — both have scored four and assisted two — missing for different reasons, the Toffees will lean exclusively on Jack Grealish (two goals, four assists) to carry the can in the attacking third, while Garner hopes to his goal and assist in the win at Forest, which took him to five goals plus assists in 2025-26.

While Brentford did not suffer any apparent injuries against Spurs on New Year's Day, the Bees are without the hurt Antoni Milambo (knee), Josh Dasilva and Fabio Carvalho (knee), while Frank Onyeka and Dango Ouattara are with Nigeria and Burkina Faso at AFCON.

Although Igor Thiago failed to score for the sixth league match in a row, the 11-goal forward aims to add to his impressive tally against the Toffees.

Five of his 11 goals have been match-winners — only Erling Haaland (seven) has more — while four of his total have been away from home, a commendable figure to take to this weekend's hosts.

Kevin Schade also packs a punch, highlighted by the wide attacker's six league goals; however, every strike has come at the Gtech Community Stadium, and it remains to be seen if he ends his drought away from home this weekend.

Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Patterson, Tarkowski, O’Brien, Mykolenko; Iroegbunam, Garner; McNeil, Rohl, Grealish; Barry

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Kelleher; Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Henry; Henderson, Janelt, Yarmolyuk; Lewis-Potter, Thiago, Schade

We say: Everton 1-1 Brentford

Sunday’s game is a tad tricky to call; on the one hand, Everton can be backed to win, given their six-match unbeaten run in this fixture, and Brentford’s dismal away record, which has witnessed two wins and seven losses.

On the other hand, the Bees have claimed eight points from a possible 12 in the league, impressing on their longest unbeaten league run since Andrews replaced Frank.

However, with Everton missing several match-winners and the West London visitors unable to rely on Thiago at the moment, the spoils could be shared on Merseyside as Brentford claim their first away point of the season.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.