Should Unsworth recall Rooney, Moyes returns to Goodison and other Everton talking points

This clash isn’t promising a classic, in fact it’s been suggested this could be the first game in Premier League history in which both teams lose, but the two sides desperately need points to move away from the drop zone.

Here, we look at the key talking points.

GYLFI SIGURDSSON NEEDS TO PLAY CENTRALLY, NOT OUT WIDE

It’s amazing to think the Icelander cost the Blues almost £9million more than city rivals Liverpool shelled out on world-beater Mohamed Salah.

The 28-year-old has looked laboured, off the pace and out of form so far – and although a lack of a pre-season didn’t help him – it hasn’t reflected well on Sigurdsson.

That said, it’s not been up to him that he’s been shoehorned onto the left-flank when playing centrally is his best position. It’s where he can effect the game and shoot from range, with rewards as we saw against Southampton, and it’s where he needs to play.

Sigurdsson is the only Blues player who has the ability to create something out of nothing and needs to be given his preferred position where he can influence the game.

With forward options limited – Dominic Calvert-Lewin is likely to have to start up top again in the absence of the suspended Oumar Niasse – Everton need a supply line from somewhere with both Kevin Mirallas and Aaron Lennon showing little signs of assisting.

SHOULD DAVID UNSWORTH RECALL WAYNE ROONEY?

Wayne Rooney must’ve felt that he had gone back in time, sitting there glum-faced on the Toffees’ substitutes bench at St Mary’s Stadium.

Indeed, it was a bit of déjà vu to over 15 years ago, when he was again an unused sub at the same stadium in April 2002. He was just 16 back then when David Moyes included him in the squad for the trip to the south coast during the 2001-02 campaign – before we all know what happened the following season.

It’s gone full circle since then for Rooney, of course, but he has gone backwards under Unsworth’s reign.

He has been an unused sub in the past two Premier League matches and was withdrawn, after starting, in each of Unsworth’s first three league games in charge. Similarly, he was taken off for his ineffectiveness in the EFL Cup clash with Chelsea in the temporary boss’s first game, left out at Lyon and was part of a second-string XI which got thumped at home by Atalanta in the dead rubber Europa League match last week.

This doesn’t necessarily point to a return to the line-up on Wednesday whatsoever and Rooney’s presence in the side is at the detriment to Sigurdsson, with both of them wanting to play their football in No10 roles.

With all that considered, the gut feeling is that the 32-year-old will get the nod and be sandwiched into the side, somehow, for his leadership qualities in a team devoid of characters if anything else.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A DEFENSIVE SHAMBLES?

There’s no doubt that West Ham will play direct against Everton, and rightly so, the Blues have looked incapable of defending crosses into the box and have been weak at the knees centrally.

With the likes of Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll set to start for the Hammers, the away side should be confident about getting plenty of joy with long ball play.

Phil Jagielka, an Everton legend in his own right, has looked all of his 35-years this season while Ashley Williams’ dreadful defensive displays have meant he bears the brunt of the Goodison boos.

Michael Keane (an injury doubt) has been caught in the middle, with the former Burnley man not being helped by the form of the two aforementioned centre-backs whether he has been operating in a back five or four.

Everton’s soft-centre and inability to defend has been at the crux of this disastrous campaign and Unsworth’s arrival hasn’t fixed things, with the club conceding 10 goals in his four league matches in charge.

Leighton Baines ‘popped’ calf at Southampton is likely to rule him out, leaving 20-year-old Jonjoe Kenny as the only recognised full-back. It may mean Cuco Martina has to be recalled – a man who hasn’t exactly been a fans’ favourite at Goodison Park so far.

With mystery injuries and unavailability of others, like Mo Besic and James McCarthy, adding to the long-term injuries of Seamus Coleman and Ramiro Funes Mori – Everton simply don’t have any defensive options.

The limited protection from out-of-form Morgan Schneiderlin and a lack of clarity in the holding midfield positions, along with Idrissa Gueye and Tom Davies, hasn’t offered much stability either – with standout goalkeeper Jordan Pickford being the man who has truly been unlucky to play behind them this term.

DAVID MOYES RETURNS TO GOODISON PARK FOR THIRD TIME

The Scot has been back to Goodison Park twice since leaving the Blues in 2013 after 11 years on Merseyside. On both occasions, his Manchester United and Sunderland sides went down 2-0.

But, this time around, there’s certainly a different feeling about his reunion given Everton’s wretched form – which is in complete contrast to confident teams he faced under Roberto Martinez and Ronald Koeman.

Although it wasn’t the best performance against Leicester, Moyes’ team showed grit to grind out a draw and there were signs the basic messages, as the 54-year-old put it, that have been instilled on the training ground alongside assistants Stuart Pearce and Alan Irvine, have been working.

West Ham have often struggled in the past at Goodison but they should take plenty of confidence into this one and look to get the home crowd on the back of their players early doors.