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Bryan Oviedo could miss out again for Everton, although he has returned to training following a chest infection.
Kevin Mirallas and Gareth Barry are both suspended but Muhamed Besic could make his first start since January after returning from injury.
Arsenal will be without midfielder Mathieu Flamini, who suffered a hamstring injury against Barcelona.
The Gunners are still missing Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Petr Cech, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Editor’s Note: Everton have blown hot and cold all season it’s fair to say, cold in the League and hot in the Cups as they have reached the Semi Finals of both the Capital One and F.A. Cups while at least one trip to Wembley beckons for Roberto Martinez’s side.
That is due to the fact that Everton showed a rare glimpse of what they are capable last Saturday as they brushed aside Chelsea in the F.A. Cup Quarter Finals. Romelu Lukaku ran his former side ragged and scored a wonderful solo goal to send the home side into raptures and for the Belgian Forward to show Chelsea the mistake they made in selling him back in 2013
Although a great performance last Saturday for The Toffees it does have to beg the question why haven’t they done this more often this season as they are certainly capable of doing that on a more regular basis and their 12th position in the League certainly points to one of under achievement.
One man who knows underachievement is Arsene Wenger, this game isn’t quite do or die in terms of his employment status but it certainly will be in terms of the title race. His Arsenal side have exited two cup competitions in the space of a week. One was expected and one was most definitely unexpected.
On Sunday their grip on the F.A. Cup was removed as they were upset at home to Watford, while on Wednesday they came away with a creditable defeat to Barcelona at The Nou Camp but by then it was too little too late
For a side who was gunning (pardon the pun) on three fronts after their Valentines Day win over Leicester, that wave of momentum has all but ground to a halt as it’s now down to one, maybe if you were being overly critical you could say less than one.
Their form has escaped them at just the wrong time and that almost assured arrogance that a trophy or two would be coming to The Emirates this season has all but evaporated. It’s no win in their last 3 league matches and although they have a game in hand on leaders Leicester they find themselves 11 points adrift
At this point of the season it’s points on the board that you want and with Arsenal’s current form you can’t see them eating that gap, even if there was a change of form in the last 8 matches you get the feeling that they’ve left themselves with too much to do.
In terms of Today’s result a lot will depend on what Everton turn up, can they use last Saturday’s Cup win as a springboard to at least finish in the top half of the table and finish the campaign with an air of respectability, they will certainly fancy their chances against a low on confidence Arsenal.
Arsenal have to find a positive result from this game as a draw simply won’t be enough, they will have to take the few positives from the Barcelona game and use that as the inspiration for this Lunchtime’s clash. This might just be the biggest 90 Minutes of their season far.
