Everton have the chance to set themselves up for a productive festive period when they travel to Leicester City.
Carlo Ancelotti's men will be hoping to build on Saturday's heartening home win over Chelsea when they take on Brendan Rodgers' side at the King Power stadium on Wednesday evening.
The Blues could move to within a point of the third-placed Foxes should they win in the east Midlands - and would also have the chance prove former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy wrong should they do so.
The TV and radio pundit recently suggested Everton should have gone for Brendan Rodgers as manager instead of Carlo Ancelotti.
"I think they [Everton] will end up roughly where they should be – which is where they are now [mid-table]," Murphy told talkSPORT, via LeicestershireLive.
"Defensively, they are not good enough. They give away too many chances, too many goals.
"They are great on the eye going forward with James [Rodriguez] and [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin but, ultimately, they’re too easy to play against.
"I think [Ancelotti] is one of those managers who’s better suited to a team full of superstars. I never thought it was the right fit, personally. I don’t think it’s what Everton needed.
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"I thought that, when they spent all that money on Marco Silva, they should have gone for Brendan Rodgers.
"There’s no doubting Ancelotti is a top manager but, sometimes, top managers can’t walk into a club like Everton and make them competitive."
Ancelotti's Blues made their best start to a season since 1894 with seven wins out of seven in all competitions but then picked up only four points from the next 18.
The hard-fought win over Chelsea last Saturday however, earned through Gylfi Sigurdsson's first half penalty, hinted at the Blues coming back into form as the first anniversary of Ancelotti's arrival approaches.
A win at Leicester would cement that upturn, with two home games against Arsenal this weekend in Premier League and Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final next Wednesday to follow ahead of the busy Christmas programme.
