The Blues play Bournemouth for the first time in a league fixture this afternoon and manager Roberto Martinez has kept faith with the side that swept aside Aston Villa last weekend.
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Everton defender Leighton Baines has been declared fit and is in contention to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
The 19-year-old made his first start for the club in May following news of Baines’ operation and has gone on to make the position his own so far this season.
“We assess all of it and make a decision on whether he should be in the squad for Bournemouth or not”. However, their last performance against Swansea showed they are more than capable of creating trouble for the opposition, but must keep their concentration to see out games they are winning.
“But they are very clear in the way they want to play, based on what they do on the ball – they want to break teams down and bring on attacking play and score goals”. They are among the bottom in terms of goals scored in the Premier League and Eddie Howe is still trying to find a combination of players that work offensively.
“Maybe in other leagues when you are at 70% you can still get a result, but here if you are not at 95% you have no chance to be competitive – never mind get a win”.
“We need to cope with their same physicality and energy that they are going to approach the game with”.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, has Christian Atsu (shin), Callum Wilson (knee), Tommy Elphick (ankle), Tyrone Mings (knee) and Max Gradel (knee) all unavailable.
Leighton Baines is physically ready. Crosses into the box have been an Achilles’ heel for the home side in recent weeks, so Lukaku will surely fancy that his predatory instincts will be rewarded again here as he looks to lift the Merseyside club closer to the top four.
“Everton are a very good side”, Stanislas told Cherries Player.
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“More than anything it is to get the confidence back of being able to go into a 50-50 challenge without feeling fearful”. They now sit second to last in the Premier League and haven’t recorded a point since October 3rd when they drew against Watford.
