A crucial game down at the bottom end of the Premier League takes place this Saturday with Nottingham Forest welcoming Everton to the City Ground with the Toffees looking to bounce out of the bottom three after a points deduction.
The 10-point deduction for Everton leaves the club down the relegation zone by a gap of now five points on Luton Town after the latter defeated Crystal Palace in the last outing while Everton were beaten by Manchester United at Goodison Park.
On the other hand, despite the recent turmoil for Sean Dyche's men, his side are still in relatively positive form across the past five weeks since the Merseyside derby loss at Anfield. Everton went on to win 1-0 away to West Ham United in the Premier League just a week later, while they then went on to beat Dyche's former side Burnley in the EFL Cup round of 16 - Everton now have a quarter-finals battle with Fulham to look forward to in three weeks.
A further win for Everton came against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park just before the international break, as they also got a draw at Goodison Park against Brighton & Hove Albion.
It is now four wins for Everton in the league with them also losing seven games, which is actually only one less thant Luton's tally. What's more, the Toffees have a much better goals difference at this stage of the season than the last one, letting in 20 goals - this is the best defensive record in the bottom six.
As for Forest, their campaign has also started much better than last season's, as we approach the halfway stage. The club are sitting above Sheffield United in the final relegation spot by eight points and have now lost one less game than Everton (6) but also won one less too.
Forest have now let in one more goal than the Toffees too after a 3-2 comeback win for Brighton & Hove Albion last time out. Anthony Elanga got the ball rolling with a finish after three minutes that day, as Morgan Gibbs-White scored a penalty late on to bring one back for his side.
Steve Cooper's men are still in decent form, however, having beaten Aston Villa and drawing with Brentford, Crystal Palace and Luton Town since the start of October. Although this is not entirely promising, it does keep Cooper's side way clear of relegation heading towards Christmas and now nine points above Everton.