Everton v Fulham preview

Team news ahead of Saturday afternoon's Premier League clash between Everton and Fulham at Goodison Park.

Everton will again be without defender Leighton Baines and midfielder Jack Rodwell.

Baines is still sidelined with the hamstring injury which forced him to miss missed last weekend's 4-4 draw at Manchester United while Rodwell has not played for six weeks because of a similar problem.

Centre-back Sylvain Distin is expected to deputise on the left of defence once more but on-loan Royston Drenthe is not likely to return to the squad having been disciplined before the FA Cup semi-final.

Fulham defender Stephen Kelly returned to training this week and is in contention.

Pavel Pogrebnyak made a goalscoring return to action against Wigan last weekend after recovering from an ankle problem while Fulham also have striker Andrew Johnson fit and available.

Winger Bryan Ruiz (foot) will be out for 10 weeks while Steve Sidwell (hernia) and Zdenek Grygera (knee) are also long-term absentees.

Everton (from): Howard, Heitinga, Jagielka, Distin, Hibbert, Neville, Coleman, Fellaini, Osman, Gibson, Anichebe, Jelavic, Gueye, Duffy, McFadden, Stracqualursi, Mucha, Pienaar, Cahill, Hahnemann.

Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Hangeland, Hughes, Riise, Kelly, Duff, Murphy, Etuhu, Diarra, Sa, Frei, Pogrebnyak, Kacaniklic, Johnson, Dembele, Dempsey, Stockdale, Kasami, Senderos, Briggs.