Venue: Goodison Park Date: Saturday, 12th January K/o: 15:00
Team News
Everton will be hoping defender Leighton Baines will be available after the England left-back aggravated an ankle injury in the FA Cup last week. Midfielder Darren Gibson and defender Tony Hibbert have been ruled out through injury, but Kevin Mirallas could return after missing the last six matches with a hamstring injury. Swansea midfielder Leon Britton could be rested for this encounter, with Kemy Agustien and Nathan Dyer pushing for recalls. Michael Laudrup has no fresh injury concerns but long-term absentee Neil Taylor remains out with a broken ankle.
Match Preview
Fifth placed Everton will be looking to continue their surge toward a Champions League place after putting last month's disappointing set-back against top four rivals Chelsea behind them in impressive fashion with a 2-1 win over Newcastle followed be a resounding 5-1 thrashing of Cheltenham in the FA Cup. Swansea too are in impressive form. They are unbeaten in their last six games in the league and cup, notching up some hard-fought draws against the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal before following that up with a remarkable 2-0 away win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge midweek. So impressive have Swansea been since their promotion to the Premier League at the beginning of the 2011/12 season that there is only one team in the division who have yet to drop points to them - today's opponents Everton. The Toffee's have never lost to Swansea in 15 previous league encounters and are yet to concede a Premier League goal in this fixture. But as Rafael Benitez will tell you, this Swansea side are a team out with a point to prove.
Likely Line-Ups
Everton Howard, Jagielka, Distin, Heitinga, Baines, Pienaar, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Naismith, Jelavic
Swansea Tremmel, Davies, Williams, Chico, Rangel, Ki, Agustien, Routledge, De Guzman, Dyer, Michu Source:
BBC