Everton vs West Brom preview: Familiar face poses threat to European dream
How Albion react to last weekend’s chastening defeat to Crystal Palace will be the measure of how far they have come.
Bounce back with three points at Everton, and the race for seventh place and a possible European tour will be back on.
Not that it will be easy. Ronald Koeman’s free-scoring side have walloped in 15 goals in their last four home league games.
The Baggies have kept clean sheets in each of their last three visits to Goodison Park, but the coaching staff know they have their work cut out this time around.
Everton’s midfield is purring thanks to new arrivals like Morgan Schneiderlin, who chose the Toffees over the Baggies in January, and Ademola Lookman, a 19-year-old wonderkid bought from Charlton.
Lookman and Tom Davies, the 18-year-old who has also emerged this season, will provide new challenges for Albion, but their star man up front is a well-known.
This week Romelu Lukaku reportedly agreed a new five-year deal with Everton worth £110,000-a-week.
The former Albion loanee has already scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, and nine of them have come in 2017.
So how do you deal with Lukaku when he’s on such red-hot form? According to first-team coach Gerry Francis, the key is to drop deep.
“They like to get him in behind you,” he explained. “He’s best when he can get in behind you so you have to make sure there’s pressure on the ball. And if there’s no pressure on the ball make sure we’re not trying to play a high line because we’d be playing into his hands. They’ve got some very talented players Everton and have been on a great run like ourselves.
“They lost on Sunday at Tottenham so both of us, having had a good run, need to start again.
“It’s going to be a tough game, but if we’re at it we’ll obviously try and get a run going again.”
Albion are planning to threaten Everton on the counter, but that may prove difficult without Matt Phillips. He is still trying to shake off his hamstring injury and is touch and go for tomorrow, but without him, the Baggies struggled to stretch Palace last weekend.
If he is absent again, then it could be a rerun of last season’s one-sided affair at Goodison Park when Everton had 33 shots on goal.
However, the Baggies won that match 1-0. Tony Pulis knows how to win with backs to the wall.
Not that he’s needed to much this season. Albion were on a five-match unbeaten run before last weekend’s defeat, and are currently just four points behind the Toffees.
“We can’t be too harsh on our lads because we’ve had a fantastic run and played really well,” said Francis. “Now we need to start again and get on another run, starting at Everton.”
Seventh place will probably be enough to secure Europa League football with five of the top six playing in the FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
Koeman is obviously confident his side can hold on to that position because he tweeted after the League Cup final that Manchester United’s victory was good news for Everton.
In truth, the Baggies will struggle to overhaul them with six of the top seven left to play, but win tomorrow, and they’ll climb to within one point. It could be game on.
