Everton vs West Bromwich Albion. Premier League.
Goodison ParkAttendance39,592.
Saturday 11 March 2017 14:38, UK
Tony Pulis will take charge of his 300th Premier League game as West Brom host Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Baggies boss has also managed Stoke and Crystal Palace in the top flight, winning 95, drawing 87 and losing 117 of the matches he has overseen.
This weekend's hosts can also match their points tally from last season with a victory at Goodison Park this weekend, currently sitting in eighth place on 40 points.
Everton are also close to surpassing their final points totals for the last two seasons (47), with a win also enough to match this.
Ronald Koeman will be looking for his side to bounce back after their nine-game unbeaten run was ended by Tottenham last weekend.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in contention for a place in Everton's squad after recovering from an ankle injury which has sidelined him since January 2.
Muhamed Besic has returned to training after recovering from a knee ligament operation but there are doubts over whether he will feature at all this season.
Koeman is likely to make changes from the side which lost 3-3 at Tottenham with Gareth Barry expected to make way for the more attacking Ademola Lookman.
West Brom will once again be without winger Matt Phillips due to the hamstring problem that has kept him sidelined for the last two games.
Manager Pulis says he has "one or two knocks" in his squad beyond that but does not expect anyone else to be unavailable.
Everton are winless in their last three home league games against the Baggies (D2 L1), failing to score in each match.
Tony Pulis' side won this exact fixture 1-0 last season thanks to Salomon Rondon's goal - it's the only goal in the last three Premier League games between the sides at Goodison Park.
The last team Everton failed to score against in four successive top-flight home matches was Manchester United (between 1990 and 1993).
Meanwhile, West Brom haven't kept a clean sheet in four consecutive away top-flight games against an opponent since March 1925 (a run of five against Birmingham).
Romelu Lukaku has scored three goals in six Premier League games against his old club, but all of these have come at The Hawthorns.
Lukaku now has 78 Premier League goals. Only three players in the history of the competition have scored more before their 24th birthday than the Belgian: Michael Owen (110), Robbie Fowler (106) and Wayne Rooney (86), while Lukaku now has one more than Cristiano Ronaldo (77).
West Bromwich Albion have won 39 points from 20 games against sides outside the top six this season (W11 D6 L3) - more than any other club in games between teams currently in positions 7-20.
The Baggies have named an unchanged starting XI on 10 occasions this season in the Premier League; more often than any other side.
Both sides had difficult results last weekend. Despite their defeat at Tottenham, Everton have been in excellent form at home, picking up four straight wins in the league. They face a tough test against West Brom, who are a difficult side to beat. They've got a good football team and will be a threat from set-pieces, but I'm just going to side with Everton for a narrow victory.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1
Sunday's 3-2 loss at Tottenham saw the Toffees drift out to 6/1 for a top-six finish, while the Tony Pulis' visitors are 4/11 favourites to be the top-placed Midlands side despite also enduring an unfavourable weekend.
Romelu Lukaku, who is 7/2 second favourite to be Premier League top goalscorer, is odds-on to add to his tally and 11/4 to break the deadlock, with Salomon Rondon considered the Baggies' main threat at 7/1 to net first.
Everton v West Brom is included in this weekend's Super 6, with £250,000 up for grabs for simply predicting the six correct scores. Enter your selections by here.
