Manchester United travel to Goodison Park on Sunday with the wind in their sails following a brilliant display against West Ham United in the EFL Cup.
The Red Devils put four past the Hammers at Old Trafford and there were encouraging performances from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial.
Jose Mourinho’s men have reserved their best performances for the Cup competitions this term but they’ve floundered in the Premier League.
Everton failed to win a single league game in November and much of the early promise shown under Ronald Koeman has evaporated in the last four weeks.
Just one point seperates the two side’s before Sunday’s meeting and the Toffees can frogleap the Red Devils with a win.
It’s a big game for…Henrik Mkhitaryan
The midfielder provided two assists for his team-mates in the 4-1 rout and combined brilliantly in his link-up play with Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial.
The 27-year-old’s been the pick of the bunch during his last two starts for the club and Mourinho can no longer afford to overlook the ex-Dortmund star in the Premier League.
However, though Mkhitaryan’s earned his place for Sunday, he needs a good performance to retain his spot as Mourinho’s shown with Rooney and Martial that he’ll drop any attacking player for a poor performance.
Likely line-ups
Koeman admitted he was concerned by Everton’s recent displays following their limp 1-0 defeat to former side Southampton last week.
The Dutchman could bring the likes of Kevin Mirallas into the team to shake things up but he’s likely to stick with the same side on Sunday.
It means Aaron Lennon could start on the right-wing again
Aaron Lennon’s performed well against Manchester United in the past and he could start on the right-wing again on Sunday.
Romelu Lukaku’s another that has a good record against the Reds and he will fancy his chances against a makeshift centre-back pairing of Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo.
United can take confidence from Wednesday’s win against West Ham but they most continue their form on Sunday.
Mourinho’s often not helped himself after a morale-boosting win by rotating the side come the weekend and he must learn from his mistakes for the trip to Merseyside.
However, there are some changes that Mourinho will be forced into making with Luke Shaw and Wayne Rooney set to miss the trip.
Rooney, 31, is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season and Paul Pogba can replace the United captain in attacking midfield.
At full-back, Shaw sustained an injury against the Hammers and was withdrawn at half-time, meaning Daley Blind is likely to come into the side.
If you memorise one stat, make it this…
After a brilliant start to the season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic endured a barren run of just one goal in 11 appearances for the Red Devils.However, the Swede’s put that poor form behind him and has now scored five goals in his last four appearances for Mourinho’s side, making him a man to be feared ahead of Sunday’s game.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has five goals in his last four appearances.
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