Everton vs Sunderland
Venue: Goodison Park
Kick off: 12:45pm
Sunderland need to get a result away at Everton today, or they could find themselves being cast adrift in the bottom three.
The Black Cats have a history of staging a late-season surge to survival, and they will need to call on all of that experience to gain anything from Goodison Park.
Prior to last week’s defeat at Aston Villa, Everton were one of the in-form teams in the Premier League.
Roberto Martinez had quietly put to bed any whispers that they could be sucked into a relegation dog fight and strung together an impressive run of form, which culminated with a 3-0 win over Manchester United.
Everton currently sit 11th in the table, while Stoke City and West Ham United are within striking distance.
At home, Everton have been in fine form recently and have won each of their last four games in front of their own supporters without conceding a goal.
Sunderland enter the match on Merseyside full of confidence following their 2-1 win over Southampton last weekend.
Jordi Gomez struck two penalties for the Black Cats to give them a much-needed victory, which keeps them in touch with rivals Hull City, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
Manager Dick Advocaat firmly believes that they will still be a Premier League club next season, but for that to be the case they will have done things the hard way.
Sunderland do have a game in hand on their rivals, but that will come away at Arsenal, while they are also scheduled to visit new league champions Chelsea.
Next week’s home game with Leicester City will also be vital, but the Foxes are one of the most in-form teams in the division.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Stones, Coleman, Barry, McCarthy, Mirallas, Barkley, Lennon, Lukaku.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Pantilimon, Jones, O’Shea, Brown, van Aanholt, Cattermole, Larsson, Rodwell, Johnson, Wickham, Defoe.