Leicester City v Everton: Premier League – live | Premier League

10 min: It’s all Everton at the moment. They’ve come out like a train. I don’t think Maddison has had a kick yet.

We have reached the point of the season in which a draw for Everton is simply not good enough,” emails Matt Burtz. “It’s not strictly speaking a must-win, but one point doesn’t do them very much. I would rather they go for it and lose than play timidly for a draw.”

The visitors have certainly not been timid so far.

8 min: Brillant save from Iversen! Ooooo, this is a world-class save. Doucoure feeds Iwobi on the right, and the Nigerian international takes an early shot across goal, but the Leicester stopper flings out a right arm and tips it over the bar. That was headed into the top corner, and might have even got a deflection off a Leicester defender.

6 min: A couple of corners for Everton. Sean Dyche will no doubt be excited, as McNeil outswings one towards his old Burnley mate Tarkowski. Soyuncu heads away but if falls kindly to Gueye on the edge of the area … the former PSG man skies his shot over the bar from 20-ish yards out. A good chance!

4 min: Tielemens nutmegs Gueye in midfield and sends a wonderful diag to Barnes on the left wing. The ball bounces up towards Garner’s arm in the box, Leicester fans appeal for the penalty, but Michael Oliver is unmoved. The correct decision, Garner’s arm was down by his side.

2 min: Thomas off to a nervy start at left-back for Leicester. A tidy footballer, but not at James Justin’s level. How Leicester have missed the latter this season.

Peeeeeep! And we’re off. Leicester in their royal blue, Everton in their pink away kit, which is reminiscent of a Leicester away kit from a few seasons ago.

Here come the teams. They love a flag at the King Power, don’t they. I’m intrigued to see James Garner in midfield for Everton tonight, his first Premier League start. Haven’t seen much of him this season, just 12 appearances in all competitions although he’s had seen some more minutes recently. Was excellent for Forest last season.

Kasper Schmeichel: “I really miss playing at Leicester. Its an amazing place.”

He describes Daniel Iversen as “very competent”.

Everton playing with a five in midfield tonight – Iwobi, Garner, Gueye, Doucoure, McNeil – which feels like a defensive shape. Not a lot of matchwinners on the bench, perhaps with the exception of Demarai Gray. Nobody has fewer than Everton’s six league wins this season. I’m sure most in the away end would take a 0-0 draw tonight.

James Maddison is very good at football, and seems like a nice enough chap, but there is something about him that slightly irks me. I think it might be the shorts/socks combo. Not enough knee on show, for me.

Where would Leicester be with a proper goalkeeper? Certainly a few more points better off. Danny Ward put in a series of shocking displays when he was between the sticks earlier this season, although he was far from the only culprit at the back. Iversen has been a small improvement since coming into the side but this will surely be a position that the club will look to bolster in the summer, provided they do avoid the drop.

I mention this because Kasper Schmeichel is Sky’s guest on MNF tonight. What a brilliant player he was for Leicester, and what a surprise it was to see him leave last summer, even if he did swap the east Midlands for the French Riviera. He’s not doing a bad job as a pundit, by the way, as he gives some in-depth analysis to some of the weekend’s goalkeeping. A poor choice of trainers to go with his very sharp suit.

“They were so good that some of the glory hunters near me in Birmingham, opted for the leftfield choice of supporting them when ALL the others went for Liverpool,” writes Antony Train in response to Paulo Biriani’s email. “Needless to say, by the early 90s, the glory days of both started to fade and most had seen sense and started supporting their local team, Villa! But what a team. Kevin Sheedy and that left foot. And that le Coq kit with the white top half and blue bottom half: WOOF.”

If you’re wondering why Amadou Onana is not in the starting Everton line-up, Sean Dyche has revealed the Senegalese has been ill for the past couple of days, while Ben Godfrey, who is not in the squad, has a groin injury.

“I do remember just how incredible their team was in the 80s,” emails Paulo Biriani. “God, they were good. And I remember reading about Dixie Dean and his genius when I wad a kid. It seemed an immutable law that Everton were not allowed to be relegated.”

Too good to go down? Looking at both XIs tonight, you’d probably say that was the case. But performances on the pitch have been collectively awful, and they deserve to be where they are. It’s also a credit to the three promoted teams – Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. Two of the three are safe, and Forest have a great chance to stay up.

An enthralling Champions League semi-final second leg is also taking place at a sold-out Emirates. Join Sarah Rendell here.

The teams

Preamble