Joe Thomas - Time for changes
This is the game I would make changes in. I don't think recent performances have been bad but goals have remained a problem and I think this match presents an opportunity to try something different.
Forest are good and they are good at home, but I don't think Everton can afford not to explore the potential for an attacking partnership to develop. If there is one that could work, it needs to be found quickly. This would be a huge game to win and I think Everton need to start positively and try and get a lead, they will have plenty of options to protect it.
I'm going to go with a 4-4-2 and keep Idrissa Gueye in the side despite a difficult last two games for him. He and Amadou Onana sit deep and protect the defence for me, hopefully giving Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi more freedom to get up the pitch from wide positions.
READ MORE: What Sean Dyche has said about Neal Maupay, Ellis Simms and Demarai Gray leading Everton's attack
Up top, I would start Ellis Simms and Demarai Gray, just to try something different. Gray has been able to threaten from central positions this season and while Maupay has got into good positions under Dyche, I think him and Gray together would be too similar. Maupay could be useful from the bench. At the back, I think Yerry Mina deserves a chance.
My team (4-4-2): Pickford; Mykolenko, Tarkowski, Mina, Coleman; McNeil, Onana, Gueye, Iwobi; Simms, Gray.
Chris Beesley - Attack, attack, attack
Everton's trip to Nottingham Forest could have a similar dynamic to the recent home game against Leeds United in terms of potentially dragging an opponent back into the relegation battle. The Blues can't leapfrog their hosts in the table like they did with the Yorkshire side but the prospect of collecting three points at the City Ground could be a big game-changer in terms of momentum at the wrong end of the table.
Therefore this could be the ideal fixture for Sean Dyche to be positive and bring in an additional attacking player into his side by reverting to the 4-4-2 formation that was his bread-and-butter tactic at Burnley for the best part of a decade.
Idrissa Gueye's latest howler against Arsenal could see him make way with Ellis Simms coming in to add more of a focal point to the forward line and give Neal Maupay some much-needed help.
After shipping four goals at the Emirates Stadium, this could also be an opportune moment to make changes at the back too, so Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey also come in.
My team (4-4-2): Pickford; Coleman, Godfrey, Mina, Tarkowski; Iwobi, Doucoure, Onana, McNeil; Maupay, Simms.
Matt Jones - Maupay must make way
So we’re back, trying to find solutions to Everton’s goal scoring problem that in all likelihood don’t exist in the current squad.
But let’s roll the dice again anyway.
Remarkably, at the back may be the best place to start. With Everton’s best route to goal looking like set-pieces, it feels sensible to get their biggest aerial threat - and still their best centre-back - Yerry Mina on the pitch.
Sure, he might get injured early on, but Everton have had four centre-backs on the bench in recent weeks and those changes won’t be getting used in attacking positions anyway.
In midfield, Idrissa Gueye comes out after a litany or errors. Alex Iwobi moves infield as a result, with Demarai Gray pushed onto the right.
Neal Maupay was so poor at Arsenal and against Aston Villa - he must make way. Ellis Simms is literally the only other attacking option left in the squad.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Gray, Onana, Doucoure, Iwobi, McNeil; Simms
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