Preview: Everton vs Leeds United - prediction, team news, lineups

Leeds United will endeavour to complete their first-ever Premier League double over Everton when they visit the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time on Monday night.

The Whites left it late to overcome Fulham 1-0 in gameweek 22, while the Toffees stunned Aston Villa by the same scoreline in the West Midlands.

Match preview

It was easy to write Everton off before David Moyes's charges paid a visit to Villa Park, where Unai Emery's title-chasing Lions had won 11 matches on the spin in all competitions before playing host to an absentee-hit Toffees side.

However, the men from Merseyside upset the status quo with a surprise 1-0 victory over Aston Villa, who succumbed to a second-half Thierno Barry chip as Everton earned their first win of 2026 at the fourth attempt.

The Toffees' triumph in the West Midlands lifted them back into the top half of the Premier League rankings - only four points off the Champions League spots at the time of writing - although results over the weekend will almost certainly bump them back down into the bottom 10.

Producing their best performances on the road of late - winning four and losing just one of their last seven contests on rival turf - Everton have many wrongs to right at home, where they have lost three and drawn one of their most recent four games.

Nevertheless, for a side whose lack of a ruthless number nine has often stuck out like a sore thumb, the hosts have only failed to score three times at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2025-26 - to Villa, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

While Everton await their first home success of the New Year, Leeds are slowly but surely rebuilding the walls of the Elland Road fortress, and Fulham became the latest victims of the famous ground in a particularly sweet success.

Daniel Farke's men memorably lost 1-0 at Craven Cottage in September thanks to an injury-time Gabriel Gudmundsson own goal, but with 91 minutes on the clock this time around, super sub Lukas Nmecha sent the Cottagers home empty-handed.

Rejoicing in back-to-back wins after also seeing off Derby County in the FA Cup, Leeds are unlikely to end gameweek 23 any lower than 16th place, thanks to their three-point and goal difference advantage over 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.

A different beast since Farke's switch to a 3-5-2 shape, the Whites have lost just one of their last 10 games in all tournaments, although the visitors' revival is yet to translate into another, long-awaited away win in the Premier League.

Indeed, Leeds have gone without a victory in any of their last eight top-flight fixtures on the road, although Farke masterminded a 1-0 triumph over Moyes's Everton in the opening weekend of the season, thanks to another late Nmecha winner.

Everton Premier League form:

Everton form (all competitions):

Leeds United Premier League form:

Leeds United form (all competitions):

Team News

Everton's Africa Cup of Nations champions Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye only returned to the club's training complex on Friday, and Moyes admitted that the pair would need medical assessment over the weekend before determining their availability for Monday.

The hosting manager has an added incentive to throw Ndiaye back in straight away, though, as Jack Grealish is now on the sidelines with a stress fracture in his foot, joining the suspended Michael Keane on the absentee list.

Jarrad Branthwaite (hamstring), Carlos Alcaraz (unspecified) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (hamstring) are all training again, but Moyes stopped short of declaring them fit for Monday, while Tim Iroegbunam remains uncertain with a knock of his own.

On Leeds' end, Farke was without key defender Jaka Bijol for the visit of Fulham, and the Slovenian is now confirmed to be missing between three and five weeks with that hamstring problem.

Bijol joins fellow hamstring victim Daniel James on the sidelines, and Farke also reported an adductor concern for left-back Gudmundsson, but he remains hopeful that the Scandinavian will be fit for Monday.

In brighter news, midfield metronome Anton Stach could make a rapid return from his own adductor injury, while Nmecha has undoubtedly put his name in the hat for a start over Noah Okafor.

Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Patterson, O'Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Garner, Rohl; Ndiaye, Armstrong, McNeil; Barry

Leeds United possible starting lineup:

Darlow; Justin, Struijk, Rodon; Bogle, Stach, Aaronson, Ampadu, Gudmundsson; Nmecha, Calvert-Lewin

We say: Everton 1-1 Leeds United

Involved in their fair share of tense, low-scoring contests and multiple-goal thrillers, Leeds can both turn the heat up and keep things tight depending on the context of the match, while Everton are especially renowned for the latter.

The Toffees' home struggles and the Whites' away-day difficulties add another layer of intrigue to this battle, in which we believe a share of the spoils is the most likely outcome.

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