Our live stream ahead of Wednesdays Premier League match, Everton vs Leicester is now up, kicking off at 20.15 GMT
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
Everton come into the game off the back of a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday to see them though to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Toffees have won five of their last six top-flight games and will aiming to maintain their impressive Premier League form when hosting Leicester.
The Toffees may trail their opponents by six points, but they have two games in hand. Win those and it will be the title Ancelotti is targeting, rather than just the top four.
A 1-0 home loss to West Ham United aside, Everton have been in superb form over the past six weeks, collecting 15 points from the past 18 on offer.
Leicester also progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup at the weekend after recording a 3-1 victory against another Championship side in Brentford.
Rodgers’s side are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions, winning the last five of those, including three in a row in the Premier League.
With Everton having lost three out of their last five games at Goodison Park, only Manchester United have collected more points on their travels in the English top-flight this term than Leicester, meanwhile, the Foxes having won seven out of nine.
Losing Jamie Vardy for up to a couple of weeks could potentially derail Leicester’s title aspirations but, should they overcome this tough Goodison Park test, anything is possible.
LAST MEETING:
The two clubs last met in December with the Toffees battling out a 2-0 victory away at the Kingpower Stadium…
PRESS CONFERENCE:
CARLO ANCELOTTI
On importance of next four days…
“The games against Leicester and Newcastle will be important for us to understand where we want to be and would like to be in the future,” said Ancelotti.
“We want to fight for the top four, top six.
“The fact we are going to play at home in our next two games [means that] after Saturday we know where we are going to be in the future.
On future aspirations…
“I hope it will be a nice future.
“To take Everton to the Champions League is a fantastic motivation for me.
“It is a great, great desire.
“This is the target we have for the future.
“I don’t know how long it will take but I hope soon we can play games in the Champions League.”
On the availability of James Rodriguez, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin…
“When they were not available, we adapted really well and now they are back we expect a little bit more in front.
“It will be important to have all of them, they did really well to combine together [whenever they’ve been united in attack].
“We need them defensively, also, because the balance is really important.
“James was really good with the ball [against Sheffield Wednesday], that is what we ask from him, to be good and efficient with the ball.
“He made a lot of passes and delivered good set-pieces.
“Richarlison and Dominic can take advantage of the fact he is back.
“Now we have a different kind of game, more difficult, it is an important test for us.
“We have a good memory of the last time we played Leicester, I think it was our best game this season and for this reason we have confidence.
“You cannot let them have the possibility to put their quality on the pitch.
“They have a lot of qualities and our performance to beat them has to be 100 per cent.”
BRENDAN RODGERS
On Everton…
“They’re definitely a team that’s going to challenge.
“They’ve had big investment in the team over the last four to five years.
“There’s an expectancy there to challenge. Carlo’s a world-class manager with big experience, so he will look to maximise what he can get out of them.
“They’ve got outstanding players. I definitely expect them to be challenging.
On losing to Everton last time they met…
“For us, it’s probably the one disappointing game that I look back on. We gave away not great goals and we didn’t play so well on the evening.
“I think we arrive into this game in a totally different moment. Our energy’s good, the momentum’s good, and we’re playing how I want us to play.
“We’re defending how we want to defend and, hopefully, we can put in a much better performance in the game.
“It wasn’t a great game of football and we should have taken a point, but we couldn’t.
“We conceded two poor goals from our perspective and ended up losing a game which there wasn’t much in, so hopefully our performance will be better on Wednesday.”
FORM:
Everton Premier League form: WWWWLW
Everton form (all competitions): LWLWWW
Leicester City Premier League form: WDDWWW
Leicester City form (all competitions): DWWWWW
LINEUPS:
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Holgate, Godfrey, Keane, Digne; Doucoure, Gomes; Iwobi, Rodriguez, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Evans, Justin; Albrighton, Tielemans, Ndidi, Maddison, Barnes; Perez
THATSAGOAL TIP:
Leicester to Win – 31/20 with FanTeam.
The Foxes have lost just one of their last nine league games and sit in third at the time of writing. That one defeat came against Everton who are also on a good run of form. The Toffees have had mixed fortunes against the league’s top sides with a record of 3W-1D-3L versus the other top-half sides.
There’s likely to be little to separate the two sides but Leicester’s dominant away form coupled with Everton’s sub-par home results might be enough to separate these two top-six contenders.
Time to take a look at our Everton vs Leicester live match stream as it happens…
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