Everton will head to north London this evening for their Premier League clash with Arsenal at the Emirates and tonight’s game will be Sean Dyche’s biggest test so far.

The Toffees have found themselves dropping back into the relegation zone following their defeat to Aston Villa at Goodison Park last weekend so Dyche will be feeling the pressure for his team to put on a performance despite facing the league leaders.

In terms of injuries, Andros Townsend, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Nathan Patterson remain unavailable for selection with the Everton boss confirming the latter is still not ready to return to action as of yet.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the former Burnley boss gave an update on Patterson and his fellow young teammate James Garner:

“They’ve [Garner and Patterson] been out a while, and they both need games.

“Jimmy is going well, he is getting fitter and stronger. There’s another [Under-21] game this week, so I will try and get him in that one.

“Patto is just a bit behind (Garner), he will need a bit more.”

What is Everton’s predicted XI vs Arsenal?

With that in mind, this is how Football FanCast expects Everton to line-up against Arsenal tonight…

Jordan Pickford (GK), Seamus Coleman (RB), Conor Coady (CB), James Tarkowski (CB), Vitaliy Mykolenko (LB), Alex Iwobi (RCM), Idrissa Gana Gueye (CM), Amadou Onana (CM), Abdoulaye Doucoure (LCM), Ellis Simms (ST), Demarai Gray (ST).

We predict that Dyche will make just two changes to his starting side that lost to Villa, opting for a 4-4-2 formation to tackle the challenge against Mikel Arteta’s side.

After signing a brand new contract last week, we expect that Jordan Pickford will be joined by an unchanged defensive set up with James Tarkowski and Conor Coady resuming their centre-back partnership alongside club captain Seamus Coleman on the right and Vitaliy Mykolenko on the left.

The midfield personnel remains unchanged, however, with a change of formation we expect that Dwight McNeil will lose his spot to accommodate the return of Demarai Gray.

The £25k-per-week pacey forward – dubbed “electric” by BBC pundit Garth Crooks – has not had a chance to start since Dyche’s arrival at Goodison, however, tonight could be the perfect opportunity for the manager to change things up after an uninspiring display from Neal Maupay at the weekend, who lost seven of his nine duels.

Indeed, Gray is not a striker so in our second and final predicted change for the Everton team we expect to see Ellis Simms join the winger in the final third, allowing the pair to form a potential new attacking partnership.

Dyche will hope that combining Gray’s creativity and pace with Simms’ eye for goal will pay off against Arsenal.