Everton will be aiming to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome Burnley to Goodison Park on Saturday evening.
Both sides failed to win against London clubs last weekend, with the Toffees losing to Chelsea – their first away defeat in the league since November – and the Clarets claiming their fifth successive home draw, this time against Arsenal.
Match preview
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Carlo Ancelotti's hopes of bringing Champions League football to Goodison Park are still in sight, despite Everton losing 2-0 to top-four rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.
An own goal from Ben Godfrey and a penalty converted by Jorginho either side of half time helped Thomas Tuchel's team claim another victory in the capital, ending the Toffees' run of eight league matches on the road without defeat.
Everton are in sixth place, four points adrift of the Champions League places but with a game in hand on Chelsea, Leicester City and Manchester United, who all currently sit in the top four.
Despite defeat to Chelsea last time out, the Merseyside club boast the fourth-best away record in the Premier League – having won six out of their last nine on the road – but their recent home form in England's top flight has been disappointing, suffering defeats in four of their last six league fixtures at Goodison Park.
Victory against Southampton earlier this month did, however, end a run of five matches without a home win for Ancelotti's side, with Richarlison's ninth-minute effort sealing all three points.
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Everton's home record against Burnley will give them confidence heading into this weekend's clash, having won five of their six Premier League home games against them (83%) – only against Fulham (93%) do the Toffees have a higher win rate against a top-flight side after facing them at least five times at Goodison Park.
Ancelotti will be hoping talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin can regain his early-season form in front of goal as he has failed to score or provide an assist in any of his last four matches.
The 23-year-old has been a pivotal figure in the Toffees side this campaign, scoring 13 Premier League goals, which have been worth 14 points to Everton, more valuable than any other player in the competition so far this term.
Calvert-Lewin scored when Everton played out a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor in the reverse fixture earlier this season, but the Toffees will want to claim all three points on home soil this Saturday and show more consistency at Goodison Park heading down the home straight.
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Burnley are to face their fourth successive match against a top-10 side this weekend and despite failing to win any of the previous three games, Sean Dyche may feel that his side have picked up two points more than many would have expected them to claim in draws against both Leicester City and Arsenal.
A 1-1 draw against the Gunners last time out means that five of Burnley's last seven Premier League games have ended level, although all of these draws have been at Turf Moor – setting a new top-flight club record. In contrast, the Clarets have won two and lost four of their last six away league matches.
Dyche's side remain in a battle for survival as victory for in-form Fulham away at Premier League champions Liverpool means that the Clarets are just four points clear of the bottom three with 12 matches left to play.
Burnley were in ninth position and one point above Everton at this stage of last season, but this campaign sees them sit in 15th place, 16 points behind the Toffees having played a game more.
The Clarets have a mixed record against the Merseyside outfit in recent years, winning four and losing four of their last nine meetings, with their last victory at Goodison Park back in October 2017.
Scoring goals remains at a premium for Burnley and only basement club Sheffield United (16) have registered fewer than Dyche's side (20) so far this campaign, although the Clarets have won their last three away league games in which they have found the net.
With a match versus Southampton next week, as well as fixtures against Newcastle United, Fulham and Sheffield United still to play later this season, a positive result at Goodison Park would ease the pressure on Dyche heading into those six-pointers and should give his side plenty of confidence that they can escape from danger.
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Team News
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Everton quartet James Rodriguez, Fabian Delph, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Jean-Philippe Gbamin are all unavailable through injury, while there are also doubts over Gylfi Sigurdsson and Robin Olsen.
Ancelotti may decide to revert to a four-man defence after using Alex Iwobi as a right wing-back against Chelsea last weekend. As a result, midfielder Tom Davies could come into the starting lineup to replace the Nigerian with Mason Holgate or Seamus Coleman filling in at right-back.
Richarlison has scored four goals in his last four home games in all competitions, and the Brazilian is expected to operate alongside Calvert-Lewin once again in the final third of the field.
As for Burnley, they will be without striker Ashley Barnes, who scored the winning goal the last time the Clarets played on Merseyside, beating Liverpool at Anfield in January.
Charlie Taylor and Jack Cork are both doubts and will be assessed ahead of kickoff, but the match may come too soon for Cork in particular to recover from a tight hamstring.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Robbie Brady and Matej Vydra all recovered from injury to play a part in Burnley's draw with Arsenal last weekend, with the Icelandic winger the most likely to feature in Dyche's starting XI this weekend.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Holgate, Godfrey, Keane, Digne; Davies, Allan, Gomes; Sigurdsson; Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Pieters; Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Westwood, McNeil; Rodriguez, Wood
We say: Everton 2-0 Burnley
Everton have shown their top-four credentials in recent weeks, but the team's home form must improve if they are to stay in touch with the sides currently above them.
Burnley have displayed their resilience in their last two matches against Leicester and Arsenal and will hope to cause problems for the hosts once again this weekend, as they did in the reverse fixture three months ago.
However, we expect the Toffees to continue their Champions League charge with a victory on Saturday.
Top tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Everton win with a probability of 44.33%. A win for Burnley had a probability of 30.09% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Everton win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.25%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.08%) and 2-0 (7.66%). The likeliest Burnley win was 0-1 (8.13%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.14%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood.
