Season › 2011-12 › News Everton v Sunderland Michael Kenrick , 9 April, 39comments | Jump to most recent Match Preview Easter Monday and Sunderland return to Goodison Park, less than a week ahead of the FA Cup Semi-Final both teams competed for in one of Everton's best performances of the season at the Stadium of Light. That followed the original tie 10 days earlier when a less-motivated Blues side could not raise their game after the momentum of a good unbeaten run was squandered by that infamous capitulation at Anfield. Fans are likely to be a lot more understanding should Moyes chose to rest half his best players this time around, in anticipation of the crucial clash with Liverpool at Wembley on Saturday. And though David Moyes could have a very rare full compliment of players available for rotation on Monday afternoon, he is likely to rotate more players with the weekend's cup derby in mind. He has already benefited from having Seamus Coleman available, back from an injury that has kept the Irishman sidelined for much of 2012. Jack Rodwell is also close to a return, although concerns must remain over the problematic nature of his persistent hamstring injury that just does not see to want to heal completely. And the other name missing recently, the enigmatic Royston Drenthe, is reportedly available again after being granted 'compassionate leave' for a number of weeks while the rumour mill went wild. Moyes tried to give three of his most in-form players a rest against Norwich at the weekend, with Fellaini and Heitinga benched while Leon Osman was left out of the squad altogether with an apparent calf injury. But he brought Fellaiini on in the second half and while the big Belgian demonstrated yet again how important he has become in pushing Everton forward from central midfield he managed to pick up a ninth yellow card that, thankfully, now gets rendered insignificant by the yellow card amnesty this weekend. Heitinga and Distin are clearly Everton's strongest current defensive partnership at centre-back, but Moyes has shown remarkable faith in Jagielka, even though he has recently been less than fully effective. He did chalk up a rare assist for Nikica Jelavic's first goal at Carrow Road, though, and Moyes could either reconstitute the prime pairing as final preparation for Saturday or even rest the ageing but irrepressible Distin as well? Given the short 46-hour break since the Norwich game finished, and realistic concerns about the risk of injury to key players, the likes of Tim Cahill, Tony Hibbert and perhaps Jelavic could also be rested, though in the interests of maintaining momentum, too many changes to the primary line-up could have a negative effect on these immeasurable factors. Nevertheless, depending on how much Moyes mixes things up, there could be opportunities of the likes of Duffy, Anichebe, McFadden, Rodwell, Barkley, Stracqualursi and Vellios. Sunderland will no doubt be looking to exact revenge on the side that so comprehensively outplayed them on March 27, and squad rotation for Everton could play into their hands, but while confidence remains high and the team continues to play the incisive brand of football they have been exhibiting lately, a home win is still a good bet. Michael Kenrick and Lyndon Lloyd » Read more Live Matchday Forum Reader Comments (39) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads