Everton prediction

It can't be too often in recent times that we have had a 'six pointer' at the right end of the table but the short journey to Goodison Park tomorrow is a definite big game in terms of the make up of the rest of the season (and we also face them in around six weeks time in the return game).

It also isn't a place that fills me a great deal of confidence, and despite their twin defeats in the FA Cup and Carling Cup over the past week, we will definitely have a tough job on our hands to come away with all three points.

A win, and we maintain our fourth spot, whilst a defeat could see us drop out of the UEFA positions, to really illustrate how tight it is at the moment.

Approach wise, I don't think either side will take too much of a risk tomorrow given what is at stake and it should definitely pan out to be a tightly fought affair.

Despite the loss of Yobo, Yakubu and Pienaar to African Nations duty, Everton are still a compact and useful side, who have the ability to cause us problems - particularly Tim Cahill who is a constant threat.

For ourselves, Michael Johnson will still be absent but Elano looks set to return in place of Nery Castillo and we go into the game on the back of some sound defensive performances and I expect that to continue into this one.

As I said, I canb't see anything other than a tight game and it probably will need an early goal to open things up a little. If not, and as I expect, I can see this playing out to be a 0-0 draw - something both sides I imagine would be fairly happy with.