The north London side have managed just two points from the previous six games and are currently languishing in the 15th position.

They are already 10 points adrift of the top four places and don’t want to fall further behind during the congested festive schedule.

They have had a dominant record against the Toffees over the years, but have failed to beat them in the previous two visits (draw and loss).

Formation: 3-4-3

Predicted Lineup:

Bernd Leno has no real competition in goal and he is expected to start for the 14th successive league game.

In the defence, there could be a couple of changes.

Hector Bellerin is back after his one-match suspension and he is expected to replace Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the right wing-back position.

David Luiz should come in for Gabriel Magalhaes, who is suspended after his sending off against Southampton in midweek.

In the centre of the park, it should be the same combination from the Saints clash with Granit Xhaka still suspended.

The Swiss is serving the second game of his three-match domestic ban after being sent off for violent conduct against Burnley.

Mohamed Elneny and Dani Ceballos are expected to keep their respective places.

Elsewhere, there could be a solitary change in the attack with Alexandre Lacazette coming in for Eddie Nketiah.

Predicted Arsenal lineup (3-4-3): Bernd Leno; Rob Holding, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney; Hector Bellerin, Mohamed Elneny, Dani Ceballos, Bukayo Saka; Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

The Toffees have had a good start to the league campaign and recent wins over Leicester City and Chelsea sees them within one point of the top four.

They are scheduled to host a struggling Arsenal outfit at Goodison Park today, but ahead of the game, Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that both Allan and James Rodriguez will be unavailable.

Allan sustained a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Leicester City and no timescale has been mentioned for his recovery. Rodriguez, meanwhile, is not fully fit after his recent calf problem.

“Allan had a problem on his hamstring and we don’t know [exactly] how many games he will be out for. But for the games in this period, he is not going to play. James is not ready yet. I think it is too soon to put him at risk,” He told.

Everton can move into the top four with a win, suppose the other results go their way. They have fared impressively against London opposition this term, having beaten the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Fulham and Crystal Palace.

Meanwhile, their record against the Gunners has been generally poor over the four decades, but they have picked up four points against them in the previous two encounters at Goodison Park.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

The Toffees started the season in fine form with four straight wins and they were top of the table during the October international break.

However, they have since managed the solitary victory from the next seven matches and that has dropped them to ninth in the standings.

The Toffees are now seven points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur, who are the league leaders and they will host Chelsea in tonight’s clash.

The Blues have been one of the league’s most consistent sides and they are unbeaten in nine successive games in the top-flight. They are two points behind Spurs.

The club are winless in the past three trips to Goodison Park with two defeats and one loss, but Owen believes the Blues should pick up three points this time around.

“One shining light has been the emergence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He’s continued his goal-scoring form, so Everton will still carry a big threat in front of goal. That said, with Chelsea in such good form, I can’t see anything other than an away win,” He told.

The Blues are expected to be without Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech due to hamstring injuries.

The hosts won’t have the services of Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Lucas Digne, who recently underwent an ankle surgery.

The Toffees have lost their way over the past few months after making a brilliant start to the season with four successive wins which saw them top of the table.

They have registered just victory over the next seven games and are currently ninth in the standings, seven points adrift of table-toppers Tottenham Hotspur.

Elsewhere, the Blues have gone from strength-to-strength after an average start to the season and their nine-match unbeaten league run sees them just two points behind Spurs.

The west London side have not won a league game at Goodison Park in the previous three attempts with one draw and two defeats, but Lawrenson has backed them to end the run with a 2-0 win.

“There are question marks over Everton’s defence so this is not a good time for them to be playing a Chelsea side who are playing well,” he was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

“You can still get at Chelsea, but they have really tightened up. Frank Lampard’s side are really good on the break and that might be how they hurt Everton here.

Chelsea won’t be without the services of Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The duo are out with hamstring injuries. Other than that, there are no fresh injury concerns.

The teenager recently bagged the man of the match for a superb midfield display against Liverpool in the FA Cup and he replicated the feat on his maiden Premier League start on Sunday.

In the absence of Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante was handed with the defensive midfield duties and he managed to handle with efficiency with a 93 percent passing success.

Though the teenager didn’t make many tackles or interceptions, he was once again impressive with his positioning and made forward transition passes at every possible instance.

This has got some of the Chelsea FC fans excited and some of them have taken to Twitter to appreciate another delightful performance from the club graduate.

Chelsea are trailing Bayern Munich by a 3-0 aggregate after the home leg of the Champions League round of 16. They need to score at least three clear goals at the Allianz Arena to take the tie to added extra-time and the Toffees result should get the team fired up for the game.

Jorginho will be available for Frank Lampard as he is only suspended domestically. Still, it won’t be a surprise, if Gilmour is handed with his Champions League debut from the holding midfield position ahead of the Italian.

The Red Devils could have reduced the gap between themselves and fourth-placed Chelsea to the solitary point but they failed to do so after an average attacking display.

A David de Gea howler allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score for the Toffees after just three minutes on the clock and Bruno Fernandes brought United level after the half an hour mark.

However, Manchester United were far from impressive with the attacking performance following the break and they need the assistance of Maguire at the back to deal with the physical threat from the Toffees.

Maguire was dominant at the back as he won five aerial duels and besides this, he made a staggering 15 clearances for the Red Devils as they shared the spoils at Goodison Park.

The centre-back appeared to have conceded an unfortunate own goal in the dying seconds but the goal was chalked off by VAR after Gylfi Sigurdsson obscured the view of De Gea while grounded in an offside position.

Here are some of the best Twitter reactions for Maguire’s display…

The Blues suffered their third loss from four league games after the Toffees beat them by a 3-1 scoreline at Goodison Park.

While the defensive performance was pretty poor, a certain midfielder in Mateo Kovacic came up with another strong display.

The Croatian has been making a name for himself since his permanent move to the club and against the Toffees, he bagged his second goal of the season with a sublime low shot which beat Jordan Pickford.

The strike came at a crucial period after the Toffees took a 2-0 lead but his efforts eventually went in vain as the Blues conceded another goal which put the game to bed.

Still, the Blues supporters were pleased that the 25-year-old midfielder stood out from the rest on the day and some of the fans expressed their delight over Kovacic’s display.

Twitter Reactions:

With the defeat, Chelsea FC remain in the fourth spot but their advantage for the Champions League spot has reduced to just five points.

The gap may even become three points, should Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Brighton & Hove Albion on the road on Sunday.

The west London giants had gone into the game with just one victory from the previous three league matches and they made the worst possible beginning with Richarlison scoring prior to the fifth minute.

The Toffees managed to double the scores after the break but Mateo Kovacic gave a lifeline for Lampard’s side with his second goal in four matches for the Blues.

That was ultimately invaluable as Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed his second goal of the game in the 84th minute and helped the Toffees register their first league win in four games.

For each of those goals, Zouma was culpable to making positional mistakes but the goals conceded in the second half could have been avoidable, had he shown better awareness.

Andreas Christensen was likewise guilty for the poor display at the heart of the defence but some Chelsea FC fans believe Zouma was the main reason behind the club’s shock defeat against an out-of-form Toffees side.

Twitter Reactions:

The Toffees are currently languishing in the drop zone after three league defeats on the bounce and they have recently witnessed the sacking of Marco Silva from the head coach role.

On the contrary, the Blues returned to winning ways in midweek after a run of two losses. Their 2-1 win over Aston Villa sees them hold a six-point advantage over Wolves in the race for the fourth Champions League spot.

Writing in his BetVictor Blog, Owen has predictable a tight contest between the sides and believes the Toffees will come up with a strong response on the back of a 5-2 thumping at the hands of Liverpool.

The Merseyside outfit are unbeaten in three league meetings against Chelsea FC and Owen has backed for a score draw between the sides in tomorrow’s early kick-off at Goodison Park.

The Toffees will be under the temporary management of Duncan Ferguson and it will be interesting to see whether the club can end their three-match losing run against Frank Lampard’s side, who are one of the best travellers in the league with 15 points from just seven games.

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Predicted Lineup:

Kepa Arrizabalaga will definitely feature in goal. The defence may witness the solitary change with Kurt Zouma being replaced by Fikayo Tomori as part of a rotation policy for the festive schedule. Tomori is likely to partner Andreas Christensen in the central defence with Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta in the full-back spots.

In the midfield, Jorginho will definitely return to the lineup after featuring in a cameo appearance in midweek. Mateo Kovacic will most certainly drop to the bench for this game, meaning that N’Golo Kante will partner the Italy international.

Further forward, Mason Mount’s position had been under scrutiny in the past few weeks but his winning volley against the Villains has certainly sealed his starting place.

Similarly, Christian Pulisic and Willian should keep their spots for the moment but Lampard would no doubt rest one of the duo at some point of time.

Tammy Abraham will definitely start upfront. The forward suffered a minor knee knock against the Villains but he has recovered in time for the Toffees clash.