David Moyes is weighing changes at both ends of the pitch as Everton head to Tottenham Hotspur with their fading hopes of continental competition hanging by the narrowest of threads. A defeat for Chelsea against Tottenham on Tuesday night would officially end Everton’s European chase, while a win for the London side would also keep Spurs in a relegation battle going into the last day.
Everton’s position is already fragile enough that even a handsome win in north London would not be enough to lift them into eighth place, because they trail Brentford by five goals in goal difference. That means the team Moyes sends out is being judged not just on the European picture, but on how much protection it offers against the final-day volatility that still surrounds the bottom half of the table.
Jake O’Brien’s difficult afternoon in Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat to Sunderland has opened up one of the biggest calls. He could stay in the side and be shifted into central defence, or Moyes could move him out and turn to Nathan Patterson or Seamus Coleman at right-back. James Garner is another option in that role, though that would mean moving him out of central midfield and asking Harrison Armstrong, Charly Alcaraz or Merlin Rohl to fill the gap.
There is also a possible change on the left side, where Adam Aznou could be handed a Premier League debut at left-back in place of Vitalii Mykolenko. Idrissa Gueye remains a fitness doubt for Spurs, adding another layer of uncertainty to a team sheet that already looks far from settled.
The attacking picture is no clearer. Beto has been spearheading Everton’s attack in recent weeks when fit, with Thierno Barry sharing the striking duties with him across the season. Iliman Ndiaye has struggled in recent weeks, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s form has also dipped, leaving Moyes with little room to hide if he wants a sharper response than the one Everton produced against Sunderland.
Merlin Rohl offers one of the few fresh reference points. He started on the right wing against Sunderland, scored his first goal in English football and then moved into midfield, a small reminder that Everton still have some flexibility if Moyes wants to reshuffle without relying entirely on the same tired solutions. That flexibility may matter even more now that Seamus Coleman has announced his departure as an Everton player, removing one of the club’s most familiar emergency options from the picture beyond this season.
For Everton, the immediate question is less about romance than arithmetic. Their European hopes are already dangling by the thinnest possible thread, and the match at Tottenham is being picked with both the continental race and the relegation fight in mind. One Chelsea result can end the first question outright. The other will decide how much pressure remains on the final day.
