Preview: Everton v TottenhamTeam news, form guides, one to watch and more ahead of Saturday's clashEverton v Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League
Goodison Park
3pm kick-off
TEAM NEWSDeadline-day signing Nikola Vlasic will be part of the Everton squad to face Spurs on Saturday.
Blues boss Ronald Koeman hailed the Croatian forward, who signed a five-year deal with the Blues last week after joining from Hajduk Split, as “one of the biggest talents in Europe” as he confirmed the 19-year-old will be in his matchday 18 at Goodison on Saturday.
Koeman also said Wayne Rooney will play against the north Londoners, while revealing striker Oumar Niasse is back training with his first-team squad.
“Vlasic will be in the squad for Saturday and is in contention to play,” said the Dutchman. “He was on our (transfer) list because he's one of the biggest talents in Europe, in my opinion. He also impressed us in the two games.
“Niasse is back with the first team and gives us another option. His attitude has been perfect and he needs to fight like all of the other players.”
Long-term absentees Yannick Bolasie, Ramiro Funes Mori [both knee], Ross Barkley [hamstring] and Seamus Coleman [leg] all remain sidelined.
For Spurs, Kieran Trippier could return from an ankle injury that ruled him out of action for England during the international break, but Victor Wanyama, Danny Rose [both knee], Georges-Kevin N’Koudou [foot] and Erik Lamela [hip] are all expected to miss out.
FORMEverton will be thirsting to get back into Premier League action after going down to their first defeat of the campaign at Chelsea before the international break.
The Blues’ 2-0 reverse against the defending English champions came at the end of a week almost unprecedented for its demands.
Everton drew at Manchester City and clinched their Europa League progress with a draw against Croatian team Hajduk Split in the six days preceding the visit to Stamford Bridge.
Ronald Koeman’s side won their Premier League opening-day encounter with Stoke and have collected four points from their first three games.
Tottenham boast an identical top-flight record to the Blues, having won one, drawn one and lost one so far this season.
They have picked up only one point from six available at temporary-home Wembley, but on their sole road trip – to Newcastle – emerged 2-0 victors.
Unlike Everton, Tottenham are yet to get their European campaign under way. The Londoners play Borussia Dortmund next Wednesday in their first Champions League match this season.
LAST TIME Everton welcomed Tottenham to Goodison Park on the opening day of the 2016-17 season.
The teams drew 1-1 in a match notable for being Ronald Koeman’s first at the Toffees’ helm.
There were also Everton debuts for new boys Idrissa Gana Gueye – named man-of-the-match - and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, as Erik Lamela’s second-half header cancelled out Ross Barkley’s early opener for the Blues.
Mason Holgate was also handed a first senior Everton appearance in the game after making a positive impression on new boss Koeman during pre-season.
Stekelenburg produced two fabulous late saves to ensure the Blues banked a point and developed some early-season momentum, which they capitalised on by winning their next four Premier League matches.
ONE TO WATCH: MOUSA DEMBELEIt is some task trying to identify one dangerman from Tottenham’s battery of talented footballers.
Safe to say, England pair Harry Kane and Dele Alli will cause any team problems, while former Ajax wideman Christian Eriksen is a consistent threat with his wicked-dead ball delivery and nose for goal.
None of those players, however, were included in the five-geniuses Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has claimed to have worked with.
Mousa Dembele did make it into his manager’s list, though, bracketed alongside Argentine great Diego Maradona, former Barcelona and Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho, Jay Jay Okocha, the mercurial ex-Bolton attacker, and Ivan de la Pena, a former Barcelona and Spain midfielder.
Operating from his customary midfield role Dembele manages to act as a jack of all trades– and he has mastered the lot.
Imposing, powerful and breathtakingly skilful, the Belgian uses his strength to disdainfully hold off opponents and has the vision and ability to deliver a killer pass from the most unlikely of positions.
Alli and fellow Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama both rate Dembele as the best player they have played with.
Opponents quizzed on the challenge of squaring up to the former Fulham man instinctively use terms such as ‘scary’ and ‘nightmare’ to describe the experience.
Manchester City’s £55million man Kevin De Bruyne, an international colleague of Dembele’s, had this to say on the 30-year-old: “He's so strong on the ball, you can never take it off him. Offensively and defensively, he's one of the best."
Dembele certainly fits any conceivable criteria for ‘one to watch’, then.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: GRAHAM SCOTT
The Oxfordshire official has refereed only once in the Premier League this season, when he dismissed Miguel Britos for the Watford defender’s reckless challenge on Brighton attacker Anthony Knockaert.
Scott took charge of just one Everton match last term – against West Bromwich in March, when goals from Kevin Mirallas, Morgan Schneiderlin and Romelu Lukaku sealed a comfortable 3-0 win for the Blues.
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