Everton v Stoke City
Venue: Goodison Park
Kick off: 4pm
Nigeria’s duo of Osaze Odemwingie and Victor Moses have been ruled out ofFriday’s clash as Stoke City travels to Everton in one of the English Premier League Boxing Day fixtures.
While Odemwingie is down and out with a knee ligament, his compatriot, Moses, is nursing a thigh injury.
Both players are expected back in Stoke’s line up early next year.
Stoke, meanwhile, could be without striker Peter Crouch due to a neck problem, while Marc Wilson (knee), Stephen Ireland and Dionatan Teixeira (foot) will be on the sidelines after missing Monday’s 2-0 home reverse against Chelsea.
Roberto Martinez has challenged Everton to capitalise on an “incredible opportunity” to find form over Christmas as they host Stoke City.
Everton welcome Stoke to Goodison Park on Boxing Day on the back of a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Southampton last Saturday.
That loss marked Everton’s fourth in six games in all competitions and left the Merseyside club a disappointing 11th in the Premier League table.
Martinez’s men are 13 points worse off than they were at this stage last season, which saw them finish an impressive fifth.
Now they face another stern test against a Stoke side that has claimed away wins at Manchester City and Tottenham and a home victory over Arsenal.
The Spaniard is wary of the threat posed by the Staffordshire club but is eager for his side to bounce back and put a performance together.
“Against Manchester City and Arsenal they showed what they (Stoke) are capable of. They are going to be really tough opposition,” Martinez said.
However, the hosts are still without a number of first team players, with Leon Osman and Kevin Mirallas (both ankle), James McCarthy (hamstring), Tony Hibbert (knock) and Darron Gibson (knee) all unavailable.
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