TEAM NEWSRonald Koeman has confirmed that Morgan Schneiderlin has shaken off the knock that forced him off against Lyon on Thursday and will be available to face Arsenal.
The Blues boss also revealed that James McCarthy is available for selection after his cameo for the Under-23s in their defeat to Wolfsburg at Goodison Park on Tuesday.
Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Wayne Rooney – all rested in the Europa League on Thursday – are set to return to the squad.
As for Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger named a predominantly youthful squad for the Gunners’ Europa League trip to Red Star Belgrade on Thursday, with Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere some of the more senior players handed minutes.
Wenger will be boosted by the return of key players Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey after they were left out of their last Premier League game at Watford.
However, Danny Welbeck misses out with a suspected hamstring injury, and will be joined by Callum Chambers who has suffered a recurrence of a hip problem. The duo join Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) and Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring) in the treatment room. Long term absentee Santi Cazorla continues his recovery from an Achilles injury sustained over 11 months ago in a Champions League game against Ludogorets.
FORMEverton suffered another frustrating result in their own efforts in Europe as the Blues went down 2-1 at home to Lyon. Despite a more positive performance, an early Nabil Fekir penalty and a Bertrand Traore flick gave the visitors all three points, despite Ashley Williams’ headed leveller.
Everton will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s result against Arsenal which kickstarted a series of wins for the Toffees. The Blues currently find themselves with eight points from eight games following last week’s draw with Brighton at the AMEX Stadium. Anthony Knockeart had put the home side ahead before a late Wayne Rooney penalty meant a share of the spoils on the south coast.
Meanwhile, Brighton recently became the 45th different club that Arsene Wenger defeated after goals from Nacho Monreal and Alex Iwobi completed a routine 2-0 win for Arsenal.
That made it six games unbeaten for the Gunners but that run came to an end after the international break at the hands of Watford. A 92nd-minute Tom Cleverly winner completed a remarkable comeback for the Hornets after Troy Deeney’s penalty swung momentum in Watford’s favour after Per Mertesacker had opened the scoring.
ONE TO WATCH: ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE
The striker joined Arsenal in the summer for a club-record fee of £52million from French side Lyon. Edinson Cavani may have pipped him to the Golden Boot in Ligue 1 last season, however the new Arsenal acquisition boasted impressive figures of 28 goals in 30 appearances.
The Frenchman could not have asked for a better start to life in north London. Less than two minutes into his debut against Leicester City, a Mohamed Elneny cross found the head of Lacazette who directed it perfectly past the despairing dive of Kasper Schmeichel. The goal sparked one of the games of the season, an encounter that Arsenal eventually ran out as 4-3 winners.
Lacazette followed that up with a curling finish against Bournemouth before a brace helped down West Brom.
It was the south of France where the 26-year-old’s career started as a product of Lyon’s academy. Having signed for the club in 2008, he progressed through the ranks to make his debut for the first team in 2010, scoring his first competitive goal in a 2-1 win against Sochaux. This would be the first of 100 goals the forward would go on to net for Les Gones before his departure to the Emirates.
LAST TIME: EVERTON 2-1 ARSENAL
Arsenal came to Goodison Park off the back of three very impressive wins against West Ham (5-1), Basel (4-1) and Stoke City (3-1). However, goals from defenders Seamus Coleman and Ashley Williams secured all three points for the Toffees.
Everton were looking to bounce back from an away defeat to Watford, but it was the Gunners who took the lead via an Alexis Sanchez free-kick on 20 minutes, which took a wicked deflection off Williams to take it past Maarten Stekelenburg.
But just before half time, Everton hit back. Leighton Baines whipped in an excellent cross for fellow full-back Coleman to head past Petr Cech to level matters. And then, four minutes from time, Welshman Williams met a Ross Barkley corner to nod home, sparking jubilant scenes inside Goodison Park. There was still time for a frantic final few minutes that saw two Arsenal shots cleared off the line and Phil Jagielka sent off for two bookable offences.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: CRAIG PAWSON
Although relatively new to the Premier League scene having officiated his first game in 2013, Craig Pawson first started refereeing in 1993, working his way through the Football Leagues since 2008.
Pawson has officiated nine games this season, including seven from the Premier League, and sent off both Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas in Chelsea’s loss to Burnley on the opening day of the campaign. The last time the Sheffield-based referee took charge of an Everton game was the 1-1 away draw to Stoke City in February of last season.