After the dull draw at home to Tottenham, Everton face a tough trip away to Ewood Park. Everton need to get a result to guarantee that they are still in the Champions League 4th place after this weekends matches. Everton will give late fitness tests to Leon Osman and Tim Cahill, after both players missed Tuesday’s game against Tottenham. New boy Anthony Gardner is definitely out, and, although Steven Pienaar’s South Africa are out of ACON, this match will come too soon for Pienaar. Blackburn’s only is injury is captain Ryan Nelsen, who is ruled out of this match.

Everton Striker Andy Johnson is just two goals away from scoring 100 career league goals, but top Everton marksmen Yakubu is still away at ACON. This match has ended in a stalemate on the last four occasions, so it could be expected that this one will go in a similar way.

In the pre-match press conference, Joleon Lescott said - “It’s a massive game for us to consolidate fourth spot. Blackburn are pushing for Europe, so it’s going to be a big game for us. They’ve been on a good run, picking up some vital results, so it’s going to be another tough game up there.”

And Mark Hughes seemed to agree that this would be a tough match for Everton - “We’re very much on target. People seem to forget we haven’t been beaten for six games in the league. The top four is a possibility but we are realistic in our aims. We’ve been in Europe the last two seasons. If we can get into Europe again, that is a huge achievement for us given the teams in and around us with the same ambitions and the resources they have.”