Season › 2011-12 › News Everton vs Stoke City Lyndon Lloyd , 3 December, 17comments | Jump to most recent Match Preview What a difference a couple of games make! As Everton prepared for their last home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, they were one place above the bottom three and under no illusions that, in the wake of five defeats in six league games, a failure to beat Mick McCarthy's side would have set the alarm bells ringing at Goodison Park. A fortnight and two wins later, the Blues sit in ninth place in the Premier League, seven points off Arsenal, the lowest of the seven teams that it's now assumed will challenge for the European places this season, with a game in hand over Aston Villa in eighth. Though elements of fortune contributed to the successive victories over Wolves and Bolton — a controversial penalty in the former, a first-half red card for the opposition in the latter — no one can question that David Moyes's side deserved to win those games and morale has, as a result, certainly taken a turn for the better. So the visit of Stoke City to Liverpool L4 this Sunday presents Everton with the opportunity to win three Premier League games on the bounce, a feat they last achieved a little over three under two years ago. Article continues below video content Moyes's task looks as though it will be aided somewhat by good news on the injury front, with all three of Sylvain Distin, Phil Neville and Jack Rodwell back in full training this week and expected to be fit enough to be in contention to win back their starting berths. Distin has been struggling for the past month with a groin strain while Rodwell was sidelined with a rib injury sustained on international duty with England that has kept him out of the Blues's last couple of matches. Neville picked up a hamstring strain at Chelsea in late October. Unfortunately, however, Royston Drenthe is ruled out for a second successive week with an ankle injury. Typically a strong, physical side, Tony Pulis' team are never an easy proposition but they've only won once on their travels in the League so far this season and they will be coming off a Europa League clash with Dynamo Kiev, albeit one played in the Midlands and not on the other side of Europe. Nevertheless, the Potteries side have played nine games more than Everton this season due to their commitments on the Continent and Moyes will be hoping that they will be sufficiently jaded as to give the Blues the edge. Of course, this fixture will be the first one Everton have played since the sad news of the death of Gary Speed and both the Club and fans have tributes planned to honour the boyhood Blue's memory. Many of his former teammates from 1996-1998, including the likes of Duncan Ferguson and Graeme Stuart, will be in attendance to lead a minute's applause for Speed who played 67 times for Everton before being sold to Newcastle United. » Read more Live Matchday Forum Reader Comments (17) 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