Everton at West Brom: Predicted Line-Up | A First Start for King?

Everton finally ended their horrible run of home form by scraping past Southampton on Monday.

But with another game less than 72 hours later, there are some big questions as to how Carlo Ancelotti will set up his side against Big Sam’s West Bromwich Albion.

Who’s Out?

Definitely out are the perennial absentees: Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Yerry Mina and <eyeroll> Fabian Delph.

James Rodriguez, Tom Davies, Robin Olsen and Seamus Coleman were also surprisingly left out of Monday’s game with knocks and Carlo has said he isn’t sure which of them will be ready for a trip to the Hawthorns.

But with a very short turnaround between games, Carlo did say that “rotation will be important to avoid injury and to keep all the players motivated”.

How much he’ll be able to rotate, though, will surely come down to which of those quartet will be fit and ready for West Brom.

Given his recent hamstring struggles, it seems very likely that Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be one of the players rested for this game, so that could provide Joshua King with a first start in a blue shirt.

Tactics and Formation

Everton changed their shape slightly against Southampton, moving to more of a 4-4-2 diamond rather than a 4-3-3. But with Alex Iwobi one of the most likely players to come into the side, it seems likely that Carlo will return to a 4-3-3 here.

Starters (likelihood of starting rated out of 10)

Jordan Pickford – 9/10

Mason Holgate – 7/10

Lucas Digne – 8/10

An outside chance we could see Niels Nkounkou, although it seems unlikely.

Michael Keane – 9/10

Ben Godfrey – 8/10

Allan – 7/10

Would ideally be rested given his recent return to action, but that will likely depend on Tom Davies’ availability.

Andre Gomes – 8/10

Abdoulaye Doucoure – 9/10

Alex Iwobi - 8/10

Richarlison – 8/10

Could be rested with Bernard coming in, but it will be a question of whether Carlo is confident enough to replace an entire front three.

Joshua King – 7/10

Could he finally make his full debut here? It seems a big risk to overburden DCL after recently recovering from a hamstring problem.

Bench

Robin Olsen

Mason Holgate

Niels Nkounkou

Tyler Onyango

Tom Davies

Gylfi Sigurdsson

Bernard

James Rodriguez

Dominic Calvert-Lewin