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Southampton vs. Everton: Opposition threat

By Ewan Kingsbury

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Leighton Baines (L) of Everton celebrates scoring his side's first goal to make it 1-1 with his team mates during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park on November 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Leighton Baines (L) of Everton celebrates scoring his side's first goal to make it 1-1 with his team mates during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park on November 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 18: Leighton Baines (L) of Everton celebrates scoring his side’s first goal to make it 1-1 with his team mates during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park on November 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 18: Leighton Baines (L) of Everton celebrates scoring his side’s first goal to make it 1-1 with his team mates during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park on November 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images) /

Southampton host Everton this Sunday in a must-win clash for Mauricio Pellegrino’s side, as we move into the festive season. Pellegrino will be desperate to pick up maximum points in order to win round the supporters and ultimately keep his position at the helm.

The Saints will return to St. Mary’s for the first time since the woeful showing in their 1-0 last-gasp defeat against Burnley, which fans described as the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ when it comes to Pellegrino’s tenure.

Southampton are looking woeful in front of goal at present – scoring only nine goals in the Premier League so far, whereas Everton have scored 12 – yet find themselves down in 16th place.

Everton will be without top scorer Oumar Niasse however, as he picked up a retrospective two-match ban against Crystal Palace for ‘deceiving a match official’. Niasse will be a big miss for the Toffees, and will look to Wayne Rooney and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to replicate his red-hot scoring form, which has given him a record of 69 minutes per goal in the top flight.

Southampton’s top scorer Manolo Gabbiadini, by contrast, has scored just three goals in just under double the number of minutes counterpart Niasse has played.

Fans feel Gabbiadini has the lethal touch Saints require in front of goal, but it is yet to be unearthed by the poor service under-performers such as Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic provide.

Everton could also feel the effects of fatigue if caretaker David Unsworth chooses to field a strong side in their ‘dead rubber’ UEFA Europa League tie at home to Italian side Atalanta. In his press conference, Unsworth said:

"“We are going to pick a team to win, a strong team that we we feel is the right one. We will be respectful to our fans. We put on the Everton shirt and we’re fully respectful of that.”"