Marco Silva is set to make his competitive Goodison Park bow in the home dugout when his side welcome Southampton to L4 for a traditional Saturday 3PM showdown.
Silva got off to a relatively decent start to life as Everton boss last weekend, when his 10 men battled hard with Wolves at Molineux and came away with a valuable point on the opening day.
A game the Toffees would probably have gone on to lose last term.
Richarlison lit the midlands alight with his two-goal debut for the Blues and Evertonians can’t wait to see what the Brazilian can do on home soil.
Southampton opened their new season account with an uninspiring goalless draw at home to a Burnley outfit that played a Europa League qualifier in Istanbul just three days before hand.
Mark Hughes rescued the Saints from what looked like an inevitable relegation last season and was rewarded with a new deal.
The south coast club had a busy summer, recruiting the likes of Danish defender Jannie Vestergaard, Danny Ings on a loan deal from Liverpool, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Stuart Armstrong and young ‘keeper Angus Gunn from Manchester City in a deal worth around £13.5 million.
Hughes was desperate to sign higher quality players than those he inherited from Mauricio Pellegrino and judging by names alone, it looks like he has done just that.
Everton have a strong record against the Saints, in the clubs’ 98 meetings, the Toffees have run out winners on 47 occasions.
One to watch
If Charlie Austin is fit for the clash he will prove the danger man for the visitors, he bagged two against the Blues in Southampton’s 4-1 home win last campaign and after Raul Jimenez’s goal last week, it seems Everton still struggle against a target man type centre forward.
Team news
Richarlison was withdrawn at Molineux with cramp but is expected to be okay for this weekend’s fixture.
Kurt Zouma and Bernard will have almost a full week’s training with their new side so could be in contention for debuts. Yerry Mina only started training on Thursday so it is unlikely he will feature.
Andre Gomes will miss this one and Phil Jagielka will serve the first of a three-game suspension.
Elyounoussi is a doubt for Southampton.
Man in the middle
Lee Mason will take the whistle for this one. He distributed 71 yellow cards and four reds in the 26 games he officiated in the 17/18 season.
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