TEAM NEWS Roberto Martinez hopes to be given clearance on Friday to hand £13.5million deadline day arrival Oumar Niasse his debut at Stoke City.
The Club are awaiting the completion of paperwork for the 25-year-old Senegal international but Martinez is ready to include him in his squad once all formalities are completed.
The Blues boss will welcome back winger Kevin Mirallas from a tendon problem for the trip to the Britannia Stadium but goalkeeper Tim Howard (knee), defender John Stones and midfielder Mo Besic (both hamstring) are all major doubts.
Striker Romelu Lukaku, who sustained a knock to his back against Newcastle United on Wednesday, will be assessed in the build-up to kick off.
FORMStoke City go into Saturday's game looking to recover from successive 3-0 league defeats against Leicester City and Manchester United.
Between those fixtures, Mark Hughes' men suffered a penalty shootout defeat in the Capital One Cup semi-final at Anfield, before exiting the FA Cup with a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Everton, meanwhile, will be looking to build on Wednesday's 3-0 win over Newcastle United and also extend their unbeaten league away run to seven games.
LAST MEETINGEverton 3-4 Stoke City, 28 December 2015
A breathless festive encounter at Goodison Park saw Everton twice come from behind to lead Stoke - only for Marko Arnautovic's injury-time penalty to ultimately send Stoke back to the Potteries with all three points.
After Romelu Lukaku had cancelled out Xherdan Shaqiri's close-range opener, Stoke's Switzerland international restored his side's lead by lobbing Tim Howard on the stroke of half-time.
Lukaku then grabbed his second of the game to level just after the hour-mark, before Gerard Deulofeu fired into the roof of the net to make it advantage Everton with 19 minutes to go.
However, substitute Joselu's half-volley made it 3-3 on 80 minutes, before John Stones was punished for a trip on Arnautovic and the same player dusted himself off to power past Tim Howard from the spot.
ONE-TO-WATCH: Giannelli Imbula
Defensive midfielder Imbula became Stoke City's club-record signing on deadline day as the Potters coughed up £18.3million to secure his services from FC Porto.
A former France Under-21 international who came through the ranks at Guingamp, he had only moved to Portugal last summer after two seasons with Marseille.
Born in Belgium but brought up in France by Congolese parents, Imbula could still represent any of those three nations in senior international football but openly expressed his desire to play for Belgium in October last year.