Ancelotti makes 3 changes, 22 y/o dropped: Predicted Everton XI vs Southampton – opinion

Everton have a huge game coming up on Thursday, with Southampton standing in their way.

After the disappointment of their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday, Carlo Ancelotti will want his side to bounce back in the best possible fashion.

The result left them 11th in the Premier League table, two points behind Burnley in 10th and eight points behind Wolves who are challenging for a European place next season, which still isn’t completely out of the question for the Toffees with five games to go.

As Everton enter the final home straight of the 2019/20 campaign, and another behind closed doors, here is who we think will line up against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side on Thursday.

We expect Ancelotti to stick to his usual 4-4-2 formation that he has implemented and worked on at Finch Farm, with Jordan Pickford in between the sticks.

At the back, we think that the Italian tactician will make two changes and bring Djibril Sidibe into the side to try and isolate the pace of Nathan Redmond that the Saints will bring if he features. Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne should stand alongside him in the back four.

After having a poor game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we think that Tom Davies will drop to the bench and Anthony Gordon will come back to play on the left-hand side, shuffling Gylfi Sigurdsson back into central midfield alongside Andre Gomes with Alex Iwobi on the right. Finally, we expect the front two of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to be unchanged.

Everton must put in a better performance in this time around. Obtaining a place in Europe next season is still not 100% out of the question and the players have to show how badly they want to win. Let’s not have a repeat of Monday evening.