Everton travel to face relegation battling Watford

The Toffees look to turn their recent draws into wins as they travel to Vicarage Road to face relegation-threatened Watford.

The Toffees failed to capitalise on a two goal lead that they built after Moise Kean and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored as Florian Lejeune scored a brace to take a point for Newcastle and take a valuable two points away from Everton which could have seen them move into the top ten of the Premier League.

Watford were unfortunate not to get anything from their game against Aston Villa. Troy Deeney put the Hornets in front, but ended up losing after goals from Douglas Luiz and Tyrone Mings secured the three points for Villa.

Team news

For Watford, they are likely not to have Tom Cleverley, Will Hughes, Daryl Janmaat, Sebastian Prodl and Ismaila Sarr all out due to injury. Danny Welbeck and Kiko Femenía are questionable for the game and may return.

For the Toffees, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Andre Gomes and Richarlison will definetely not be returning in this fixture with Alex Iwobi and Gylfi Sigurdsson potentially fit to return.

Watford boss Nigel Pearson is fully prepared for the various twists and turns in the battle at the bottom and feels the true measure of his side is how they bounce back from disappointment.

“All I can do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis is to try and sense how we are and adjust training and how we conduct ourselves around the place accordingly,” said the Head Coach.

“After a couple of difficult results, the players have been excellent. That is a decent indicator, but we’ve got to back it up with a good performance at home.”

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti says Andre Gomes has made a “fantastic recovery” and could be fit to make his Everton comeback in the Blues’ Premier League match against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on 23 February.

“Andre Gomes did a fantastic recovery and he is almost fit,” Ancelotti said.

“Of course, we have to take care of him. After the game against Crystal Palace [on 8 February], we have a break, so in that period we have the possibility to prepare him well for the game against Arsenal. This is the plan.”

Head-to-head

In the last five games between the two clubs, Everton have won twice, Watford have won twice with one fixture ending in a draw.