Everton can climb as high sixth with a win over Crystal Palace this afternoon as the Premier League's first ever winter break begins.
England's top flight will stage four matches of this weekend and six the following weekend to give squads the chance for a mid-season rest.
The Toffees welcome Palace to Goodison Park amid the best run of their season - just one defeat in 10 - while Palace have enduring a polar opposite run with just one win in 10.
Palace have felt relatively comfortable all season but another defeat this weekend will have them looking over their shoulders throughout their time off.
Date: Today (Saturday, February 8, 2020)
Venue: Goodison Park
Kick-off time: 12.30pm GMT
Prediction: Everton vs Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace's defence has taken another injury blow with the new Martin Kelly is out, meaning Roy Hodgson will have to shuffle his pack again. Everton appear to have turned the corner under Carlo Ancelotti - unbeaten in four - while the Eagles have just two wins in 18.
All signs point to a home win. 3-1.
How to follow
TV channel: The match will be televised live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate with coverage starting from 12pm.
Live stream: BT Sport subscribers will be able to stream the match online via the video player and the BT Sport app.
Head to head (H2H) history and results
- Everton wins: 20
- Draws: 17
- Crystal Palace wins: 13
- Everton have not lost to Crystal Palace since 2014, an unbeaten run stretching back 10 games.
Betting Odds
- Everton to win: 4/6
- Crystal Palace to win: 11/2
- Draw: 14/5
Odds provided by Betfair Exchange. Click here for more odds.
Team news
Everton midfielder Fabian Delph misses the visit of Crystal Palace as he serves a one-match suspension after his red card at Watford last weekend.
With Andre Gomes (ankle) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (thigh) still out injured Carlo Ancelotti has only three fit central midfielders in Tom Davies, Morgan Schneiderlin and Gylfi Sigurdsson and they are competing for two places.
Gomes is set to play in a friendly in the lead up to Everton's match at Arsenal on February 23.
Crystal Palace forward Cenk Tosun, on-loan from Everton, will be ineligible to face his parent club, but would have been unavailable anyway with a hamstring injury.
Mamadou Sakho (hamstring) and Jeffrey Schlupp (hip) both remain absent for Roy Hodgson ahead of the trip to Merseyside.
The versatile Martin Kelly will also miss the clash at Everton after suffering a calf injury, but he is not expected to be sidelined for long.
How we expect Crystal Palace to line up...
Crystal Palace predicted XI (4-3-3): Guaita; Ward, Tomkins, Cahill, Van Aanholt; Milivojevic, McArthur, McCarthy; Townsend, Zaha, Ayew
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