Match Preview: Everton v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford travel to Everton on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT), as the Bees make their final Premier League visit to Goodison Park.

Thomas Frank's side are looking to pick up their first points away from home this term, while Sean Dyche's Toffees are keen to give Goodison a good send-off, as they play their final season at the iconic ground.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the clash on Merseyside.

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PRE-MATCH ANALYSIS

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Set-pieces could prove decisive on Saturday

The Premier League returns this weekend after yet another international break and Brentford will have to maximise their strengths if they wish to beat Sean Dyche’s Everton.

The Bees are 0-3 in their last three meetings against the Toffees and Saturday's clash at Goodison Park is an intriguing one, as the two sides wield similar weapons.

For starters, both clubs are two of the Premier League's most skilled direct football practitioners and the battle for aerial supremacy on Saturday will be fierce.

To illustrate this point, the Bees (18) rank first in the Premier League for aerial duels won per game this season, just ahead of Everton (15.7), while the Toffees have pinged 293 accurate long balls - more than any team in the top flight - Brentford close behind them with 273.

It's important to note that both teams use their goalkeepers as literal launchpads for many of their attacks, with Jordan Pickford and Mark Flekken currently joint-top of the Premier League for long balls completed (119), and the two stoppers also topped this stat in the top flight last term.

The Bees will have prepared for Everton's tactic of spraying long balls to forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and the rangy target man's threat is underlined by the fact he has won more headers (47) than any player in the top tier this season.

Brentford are perhaps uniquely suited to handling 'DCL', however, given that Nathan Collins (third), Ethan Pinnock (fifth) and Sepp van den Berg (eighth) all rank in the top 10 in the Premier League for successful aerial duels in 2024/25.

Well-drilled by Thomas Frank and Sean Dyche respectively, Brentford (16 bookings) and Everton (17) currently lead the Premier League's fair play table and both sides' strict disciplinary code is highlighted by a shared reluctance to concede free-kicks.

Everton (39 per cent) may have the lowest average possession share in the Premier League this season, but only four sides in the league have given away fewer fouls than the Toffees (123) this season - but one of them is Brentford, who top this stat having only conceded a miserly 6.9 free-kicks per game on average.

Those free-kick stats hint at an acute appreciation of how important dead-balls can be and set-pieces could prove decisive on Saturday.

Brentford have rightly been lauded for their set-piece expertise in recent times (and their prowess from kick-offs this season has been readily apparent!), but Everton's dead-balls stats last season were staggering.

The second-most potent team in the top flight from free-kicks, throw-ins and corners last term, the Toffees converted 19 goals from set-pieces second only to Arsenal (20).

However, while the Gunners scored 22 per cent of their total goal tally from such situations, 48 per cent of all Everton's strikes in the 2023/24 campaign stemmed from set-pieces and Brentford will need to be at their best to thwart a Toffees' side who have already scored four of their 10 goals this term after the ball has gone dead.

Despite the clubs' common traits, Brentford fans will hope the Bees' evolution under Frank has added a few strings to their bow.

Second only to Spurs in the Premier League goal charts, Brentford have scored 16 of their 22 league goals from open play this term (only Man City have more from ‘live’ situations) and with Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa in red-hot form, the Bees currently possess impressive attacking potency.

This ability to cause problems from free play should stand the Bees in good stead, as should their capacity to carve out high quality chances - the Bees' 0.16 xG per shot the best average in the entire division at the moment.

SCOUT REPORT

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Lack of goals the sticking point for Dyche's Toffees

Everton’s troubles and persistent flirtation with the very real possibility of relegation from the Premier League continued last season.

They survived by four points in 2022, two points in 2023, and found themselves fighting it out in the bottom three on three separate occasions in 2023/24. This time around, though, it was largely down to the points deduction they were handed in November 2023 for breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.

Initially punished with a 10-point deduction - the biggest in the league’s history - it was reduced to six on appeal, though a further breach saw them hit with another two-point deduction in April. Naturally, it was the overarching story of their season; survival was the sole ambition.

The second deduction in particular seemed to light a fire deep within, as the Toffees won five and drew two of their last nine games to finish with a very healthy 14-point cushion between themselves and the bottom three.

"We've had many knocks this season and I'm pleased the way the team and the staff have seen through the challenges and delivered,” said manager Sean Dyche after the final day defeat to Arsenal.

And the fixture computer seemed to have been kind to Everton when all the dates were released in June - however, they’ve not really taken advantage of that.

They were rock bottom of the table for the first month after defeats to Brighton, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Aston Villa. In the latter two, they led 2-0 before being beaten 3-2 on both occasions. Two weeks in a row, they were left shellshocked, which meant they lost their opening four league games for the first time in 66 years.

Taking 10 points from the seven games that have followed has helped them to 16th going into Saturday’s game at Goodison Park but, with just one win at home and one win away, slipping back into the bottom three soon is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Ipswich and Southampton have recently picked up their first league wins of the season and will be desperate not to suffer immediate relegation back to the Championship. Crystal Palace and Wolves will not be happy with their respective current situations, either.

To look at it from a binary perspective, it is not necessarily a case of leaking too many goals, as only three teams in the bottom half have conceded fewer than their tally of 17 - scoring them has been much more of a struggle. Everton have netted just 10 so far, which is the joint third-lowest tally in the entirety of the top four divisions, after Crystal Palace (8) and Southampton (7).

IN THE DUGOUT

Sean Dyche

After a 17-year playing career ended at Northampton in 2007, Sean Dyche immediately stepped into the world of coaching by working as an under-18s coach at former club Watford, who he had played for between 2002 and 2005.

Two years later, Malky Mackay - who, incidentally, joined the Hornets as a player the summer Dyche left - was appointed manager, with Dyche promoted to become his assistant.

Over the next two seasons, the pair guided Watford to 16th and 14th-place finishes in the Championship and, in the summer of 2011, Mackay left to take over at Cardiff, which led to Dyche stepping up to take on the role on a permanent basis in his place.

He led the club to 11th in 2011/12 - their highest finish in four seasons - but the Pozzo family took over and, in a statement, said they “recognised Sean’s impeccable conduct, representing the Hornets with honour and dignity at all time,” before they quickly ousted him in favour of Gianfranco Zola.

Dyche was only out of work for a matter of months, though. Eddie Howe left Burnley to return to Bournemouth in October 2012 and he was installed as Howe’s successor on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

However, he ended up remaining at Turf Moor for seven years more than his initial contract length, guiding the Clarets to promotion to the Premier League as runners-up in 2013/14 and as Championship winners in 2015/16. His side finished seventh in 2017/18, which saw them qualify for European football for the first time in over half a century.

In April 2022, with the threat of relegation increasing, Dyche was sacked by Burnley - who dropped into the Championship after a defeat to Newcastle United on the final day - and, in January 2023, he was appointed manager of Everton on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

The 53-year-old is the Toffees has stayed in the job for longer than his six permanent predecessors and is the longest-serving manager since Roberto Martínez, who left Goodison Park back in May 2016.

THE GAMEPLAN

With Sky Sports’ Ben Grounds

Sky Sports’ Ben Grounds explains how Everton might approach the game at Goodison Park on Saturday.

"Dyche has always been a streaky manager at Everton, but his approach has always been the same," Grounds said. "Sometimes, it has felt like a turn in results can hinge on one refereeing decision. Even a throw-in.

"That is not really a way to run a football club. When you look across the dugout and see what Thomas Frank has built at Brentford, it is the polar opposite to Everton, where a series of short-term measures have been sought to effectively get the club to Bramley-Moore Dock as a Premier League outfit.

"It is perhaps an unkind assessment, but Dyche has churned out improved results in the last seven games because he simply had to. Whenever the heat is turned up, he finds a way to keep the wolves away from the door.

"But with the Friedkin Group closing in a takeover ahead of the January transfer window, a bad result against Brentford would put immense pressure on the games ahead during the most congested period of the season.

"The West Ham draw felt like a must-not-lose game for both clubs, but more courage on the ball is now needed to take points off those around Everton in the table."

Last Premier League starting XI v West Ham (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Mangala, Gueye; Ndiaye, Doucouré, Lindstrøm; Calvert-Lewin

Read our full interview with Ben Grounds here.

TEAM NEWS

Frank hopeful on Brentford trio

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank expects to have Bryan Mbeumo, Ethan Pinnock and Yoane Wissa available for Saturday’s Premier League game against Everton.

The trio did not feature for their nations during the November international break.

“All of them I expect to be available and ready,” said Frank.

“All three situations are different minor issues… sometimes a week’s rest can make all the difference, so I expect them to be ready. We’re very thankful for the cooperation from the three national teams.”

Igor Thiago played 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly on 13 November as a Brentford XI beat Cardiff City 2-1 at Jersey Road, and the striker could make his Premier League debut at Goodison Park.

“Thiago is in a good place and trained very well this week,” Frank revealed. “He will be involved in the squad.”

Fellow forward Gustavo Nunes also played 45 minutes against Cardiff, but Saturday’s game will come “a little bit too early” for the Brazilian.

Defenders Kristoffer Ajer (foot) and Rico Henry (knee) remain sidelined, while Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (knee) are the west Londoners’ longer-term absentees.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Play-off final referee Kavanagh in charge at Goodison

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Assistants: James Mainwaring and Akil Howson

Fourth official: Anthony Backhouse

Video assistant referee: Matthew Donohue

Chris Kavanagh became a select group one referee for the 2017/18 season after working his way up the football pyramid.

The Manchester-born referee started officiating in 1998 as a 13-year-old, plying his trade in local football, before being promoted to take charge of matches in the National League in 2012.

Kavanagh refereed in the Football League regularly from the 2014/15 season and made his Premier League debut in April 2017.

This will be the 10th time Kavanagh has taken charge of a Brentford game, with his most recent of those coming two seasons ago at Gtech Community Stadium when Newcastle United won 2-1.

The Lancashire official’s first Bees assignment was a 4-1 victory over Huddersfield Town in March 2015, while he was the man in the middle for the Sky Bet Championship play-off final against Swansea City, which saw the west Londoners promoted to the top flight.

MEMORABLE MATCH

Everton 2 Brentford 3 (Premier League, 15 May 2022)

Rico Henry scored the winner as Brentford came from behind to beat Everton in a rip-roaring Premier League encounter.

The Bees fell behind early on before the hosts were reduced to 10 men.

A deflected Yoane Wissa shot levelled it up and the same man scored a second equaliser after the break.

Henry headed home the winner moments later.