Saints travel to one of their bogey grounds hoping to make it three wins inside a week. and move into mid table mediocrity.
Its fair to say that older Saints fans dont regard Goodison Park as a happy hunting ground, throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's we didnt do too well there and our final years in the Premier werent great either, so to be going back to the place whilst the Toffee's are riding high in the league after a great start to the season doesnt bode well.
last week's result against Aston Villa was great, but we should bear in mind it was against one of the poorer sides in the division and if we are to pick up points against better sides, then we have to cut out the lapses that still abounded in the 4-1 win.
I cant see Nigel Adkins looking much past his starting XI for the Villa game and whilst it worked well against them, it wont work every week, Ramirez was a revelation in the middle, but the fact still remains that its not central midfielders we are short of, its quality wide men, Everton wont attack us wide as much as some teams, but they will offer an aerial threat through Fellaini and this is where we need to be combative and where the key to the game lies.
For their part yes Everton have had a good start, especially in a deserved win against Man United and they took Swansea apart, but their form has been a little patchy apart from that a 2-0 defeat at West Brom coming just before a 2-2 draw at home to Newcastle, so although they will look to finish in the top 7 or 8 this season, they dont have the consistency to hold the third spot in my opinion, which is sad because i would love to see them do that at the expense of the likes of Chelsea or Arsenal.
Saints now need to show that last week was no fluke and that we are ready to step up to the plate premier league wise, attacking is not a problem, but we have to shore up the defence and the one possible change could be at left back where we will find out if Danny Fox was carrying a knock last week or taken off in a tactical change, certainly it benefitted Clyne to play there and cut inside, but Everton away is a different kettle of fish, defensively we are bad enough anyway, playing right footed players on the left is not the preferred choice.
I think Saints can get something out of tommorows game, but I fear that a draw will be as good as it gets, however its been a long time since our last victory at Goodison, so we are due another one.