After securing Premier League safety last season with one game to spare following a dramatic comeback win over Crystal Palace, Everton will now have their fate sealed on the final day for the first time since 1998.
On that occasion, Everton started the day in the bottom three, but a draw over Coventry City saw them leapfrog Bolton Wanderers, who were beaten at Chelsea.
This season though, everything is in their own hands, safe in the knowledge that one more valuable victory will preserve their top-flight status for a 69th-successive campaign.
Leicester’s unlikely point at St. James’ Park on Monday night makes the task a little more difficult for Everton though, as a draw would have most likely been enough had the Foxes lost in the North East.
There are plenty of potential permutations should Everton slip up given how close the points tallies and goal difference is between the three sides.
A defeat here for the Toffees could still keep them up as long as both Leeds and Leicester do not win, while a draw could also ensure survival as long as Leicester draw or lose and Leeds do not beat Tottenham Hotspur by three or more goals.
Given they went 2-0 down at home to Crystal Palace in their final home game last season, these permutations are likely to come into play at some point during the afternoonđ, especially considering Everton’s surprisingly poor home form in recent weeks.
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The last three Premier League matches here at Goodison have all ended in defeat for Sean Dyche’s men, conceding 10 goals in the process, as Fulham, Newcastle United and Manchester City all came to Merseyside and recorded convincing victories.
Everton’s away form has been much more notable given their reputation as notoriously poor travellers, losing just one of their final seven away matches of the season.
That good record was kept intact by an astonishing finale at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Saturday, when after being second-best for the majority of the afternoon, Yerry Mina popped up with a 99th-minute equaliser to heap the pressure on their rivals.
