Everton and Leicester City face off at Goodison Park on Wednesday evening, both aiming to maintain their impressive Premier League form.
The Toffees have won five of their last six top-flight games, while Leicester have won three in a row in the competition and are unbeaten in six.
Match preview
© Reuters
This campaign is shaping up to be one to remember for Everton and Leicester, who are not only flying high in the Premier League but are also through to round five of the FA Cup.
Everton saw off Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 on Sunday and Leicester were 3-1 winners against another Championship side in Brentford.
Carlo Ancelotti and Brendan Rodgers will welcome a run deep into the world's most famous domestic cup competition, but for now focus is back on the Premier League.
The Toffees may trail their opponents by six points, but they have two games in hand. Win those and it will be the title Ancelotti is targeting, rather than just the top four.
A 1-0 home loss to West Ham United aside, Everton have been in superb form over the past six weeks, collecting 15 points from the past 18 on offer.
© Reuters
One concern for Ancelotti, though, will be his side's form at Goodison Park, where they have lost three of their last five in the Premier League.
Only Manchester United have collected more points on their travels in the English top flight this term than Leicester, meanwhile, the Foxes having won seven out of nine.
However, City have won only two of their 14 away Premier League games against Everton (D7 L5), including a 2-1 loss in this corresponding fixture last season.
Rodgers's side are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions, winning the last five of those, including three in a row in the Premier League.
That run leaves them two points off top spot with half of the campaign played, giving supporters hope that the one-off title success of 2015-16 may yet be repeated.
Losing Jamie Vardy for up to a couple of weeks could potentially derail Leicester's title aspirations but, should they overcome this tough Goodison Park test, anything is possible.
Everton Premier League form: WWWWLW
Everton form (all competitions): LWLWWW
Leicester City Premier League form: WDDWWW
Leicester City form (all competitions): DWWWWW
Team News
© Reuters
Vardy's hip surgery is unlikely to rule the striker out for too long, but he will sit out this trip to Goodison Park and possibly the visit of Leeds United next week.
Kelechi Iheanacho is the obvious choice to fill in for Vardy, but Ayoze Perez was selected against Brentford and may retain his place here.
Rodgers's injury list is otherwise clearing up, with Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Soyuncu among those now back in contention.
As for the home side, Lucas Digne and Alex Iwobi are in line to make their returns from injury in a major boost for Ancelotti.
Another major plus for the Italian coach is that Dominic Calvert-Lewin ended a six-game goal drought at the weekend and will be raring to go here.
Allan and Fabian Delph remain sidelined, while Jean-Philippe Gbamin is a long-term absentee for the Toffees.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Holgate, Godfrey, Keane, Digne; Doucoure, Gomes; Iwobi, Rodriguez, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Evans, Justin; Albrighton, Tielemans, Ndidi, Maddison, Barnes; Perez
We say: Everton 1-2 Leicester City
Everton won the reverse fixture and are seeking a third league victory in a row against Leicester for the first time since 1980.
The Toffees have been in good form, but they have had some mixed results at Goodison Park over the past couple of months and we can see away-day specialists Leicester prevailing.
Top betting tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Leicester City win with a probability of 47.27%. A win for Everton had a probability of 28.62% and a draw had a probability of 24.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Leicester City win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (9.05%) and 0-2 (7.55%). The likeliest Everton win was 2-1 (7.03%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.27%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.3% likelihood.
