Everton made a massive kick start to the season under new manager supervision Ronald Koeman, but recent game results have been poor; last week's 1-0 defeat at Southampton means it's now just one win in the last eight Premier League games.
Everton Takes On Manchester United In The Premier League This Afternoon
The Toffees need to response this afternoon, and Koeman has decided to drop battling centre back Phil Jagielka, with Ramiro Funes Mori starting at centre back alongside Ashley Williams. The ex-Manchester United youngster Tom Cleverley starts in midfield abreast with Idrissa Gueye and Gareth barry, whilst Kevin Mirallas and then Yannick Bolasie will support Romelu Lukaku.
That leaves the attention of Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu, Enner Valencia and James McCarthy on the bench alongside Jagielka, with Joel Robles and Mason Holgate also named as substitutes bench markers. Meanwhile, Manchester United aren't in great shape themselves as they've won just one of their seven last Premier League games, with far too many draws involved for Jose Mourinho's side.
The Red Devils lie one point ahead of Everton in the Premier League draft, and Mourinho needs a win to close the gap between Champions League places - but he'll have to do it without the former Everton striker Wayne Rooney, who is out through the league due to suspension.
Mourinho has handed a good start to Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan after their superb EFL Cup performances against West Ham in midweek, with Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba in midfield. Zlatan Ibrahimovic leads the line, whilst it's a familiar back four of Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian, with Eric Bailly and Daley Blind on the bench, but no place in the squad for Luke Shaw.
They're joined on the bench by Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata, with the latter a surprise omission from Mourinho this afternoon. They must win this to overcome loses.
