Everton v Swansea

By Steve Bower
BBC Match of the Day commentator

TEAM NEWS

Everton manager David Moyes may give a first start to on-loan forward Denis Stracqualursi after being impressed with the Argentinian’s cameo role against Norwich on Saturday.

Seamus Coleman and Jack Rodwell are doubts after missing that game with respective thigh and hamstring strains.

Swansea full-back Angel Rangel is available after making a swift recovery from an ankle injury.

Winger Nathan Dyer is set to miss out with a foot problem.

MATCH PREVIEW

Quite simply top of the Christmas wish list for both these clubs is goals, as two of the lowest scorers in the league go head to head having each found the back of the net on only 16 occasions. It’s an obvious problem but one far more difficult to address. You can’t help but have sympathy with David Moyes and the well-publicised financial constraints placed upon him.

Swansea’s leading scorer is record buy Danny Graham; he cost £3.5m, a fee that the Everton manager couldn’t afford for any player. He lost Anichebe to injury, while Beckford and Yakubu left the club, and the latter’s 10 goals for Blackburn must only heighten the frustration.

The end to Tim Cahill ‘s longest ever run in English football without a goal can’t come quick enough. Incredibly it’s 24 league matches since he found the back of the net. Everton will know the importance of three points in this one but they’ve lost three of the last five matches at Goodison Park, having been beaten just three times at home all season in the last campaign.

Swansea will once again search for their first-top flight away win since May 1982 and their first ever win over Everton in any competition. While many point to the fact that they have only three points and six goals on the road, they have just drawn at Newcastle and played very well to get a draw too across Stanley Park at Anfield. The way they keep the ball will make it difficult for Everton, and they have one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the league so far. Michel Vorm has kept eight clean sheets already; Everton can’t afford to witness another one.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Everton have never lost to Swansea in any competition (W9, D4).
• However, Swansea have earned a draw on three of their last four trips to Goodison Park, latterly in February 1983.

Everton

• Everton have only taken four points from their last five home matches (W1, D1, L3).
• They have not kept a clean sheet in any of their 11 home games in all competitions this season
• The Toffees are looking for the 1800th league win in their history.
• Only QPR and Wigan have scored fewer goals than the 16 by Everton – and Swansea – this season. They at least registered a shot on target for the first time in more than three hours against Norwich at the weekend.
• David Moyes’s side have gained seven points from losing positions, a feat only bettered by Wigan (8).

Swansea

• Swansea have the worst away record in the top flight, although their three draws on the road have all come in the last four matches.
• They have kept eight clean sheets in the league – the equal-most in the division with Manchester United.
• Swansea and Bolton are the only top-flight clubs yet to earn a point from a losing position.