Sean Dyche is hoping Everton can find their clinical edge upon their return to Premier League action having been dumped out of the Carabao Cup in midweek by Southampton.

Everton were beaten on penalties by the Saints on Tuesday after seeing Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal cancelled out by Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

The Toffees ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.54 compared to Southampton’s 0.53, but could only manage four shots on target, the same as their opponents.

Taking opportunities in front of goal has been a persistent problem for Everton this season, with Dyche acknowledging his side must improve when they travel to face Leicester this weekend.

“Yet again we’ve created golden chances, and you’ve got to score those chances and that changes the whole game,” Dyche said.

“There’s been times we’ve scored goals and looked like we can score goals, but you’ve got to kill games off. If you’re not keeping clean sheets, you have to kill games off and we’ve not done that.

“That’s a nemesis for us. It’s been here a long time, and we’ve tried to correct it and tried to find those moments, but that’s the hardest bit as a manager.

“We’ve got in some amazing positions again tonight, with one on ones, but we haven’t scored a second goal. Obviously, the work continues.”

Leicester, meanwhile, had to settle for a point in their controversial 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last time out as Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty shared the spoils at Selhurst Park.

Foxes head coach Steve Cooper was left wanting answers from decision-makers at the Premier League following the award of Palace’s first goal, having seen it initially ruled out for offside, only for VAR to overturn the decision.

However, Cooper insisted he was pleased with his side’s display against the Eagles, saying his players must keep going in their quest to get their first three points on the board.

“There was so much good in the performance, particularly in the first half, but I'm not going to shout that from the rooftops because of obviously how we're feeling about the results,” Cooper said.

“We come up against a team who have invested over a number of years and put a team together and been in the Premier League for a long while.  

“It's a pity that we conceded the goals in the way that we have because I don't think that really typified the mentality that we showed, but we have to own it, and we have to keep going. We have to stick together, be positive, and that's what we'll do.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Leicester – Wilfried Ndidi

Ndidi has assisted three goals in his last two Premier League appearances for Leicester, as many as he had in his previous 62 games combined in the top-flight.

He is only the second Foxes player to assist three goals in their opening four Premier League games in a season, along with Marc Albrighton in their title-winning campaign of 2015-16.

Everton – Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Calvert-Lewin has scored in 14 Premier League defeats for Everton, including in his last two games against Bournemouth and Aston Villa.

That’s the most games scored in and lost for the Toffees in the competition, one ahead of Duncan Ferguson who lost 13 times when scoring for Everton.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Both sides head into the encounter at the King Power Stadium in search of their first three points of the season, but Leicester have struggled against the Toffees of late.

The Foxes have won just one of their last seven Premier League meetings with Everton (D3 L3), a 2-0 away win in November 2022.

And for only a fourth time, Leicester have failed to win any of their first four Premier League games in a season (D2 L2) – in all three previous seasons in which they’ve won none of their first four, they were relegated, in 1994-95, 2003-04 and 2022-23.

However, Everton failed to win any of their first five league games in both 2022-23 (D3 L2) and 2023-24 (D1 L4). In Premier League history, the only team to fail to win any of their opening five games in three consecutive seasons is Sunderland, who did so in four in a row between 2013-14 and 2016-17.

Dyche’s side have been 2-0 up in each of their last two Premier League matches but gone on to lose both 3-2 against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, becoming just the second team in Premier League history to lose consecutive games from 2+ goals ahead, after the Cherries in November 2022. No team has ever failed to win in three games in a row when leading by two or more goals.

But 16 of the 34 Premier League meetings between Leicester and Everton have been drawn, the highest percentage for any fixture to have been played 30+ times in the competition (47%).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Leicester – 38.5%

Draw – 26.3%

Everton – 35.2%

Southampton have completed a £12.8million move to bring Sporting CP midfielder Mateus Fernandes to the Premier League.

Fernandes, who has been capped seven times by Portugal at under-21 level, spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Estoril, making 28 Primeira Liga appearances and scoring once.

The 20-year-old, who came through Sporting's youth system, has penned a five-year deal with Southampton, who began their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 defeat to 10-man Newcastle United. 

Fernandes is the 14th arrival at St Mary's since their promotion back to the top flight, with Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Cameron Archer among their more expensive acquisitions. 

"I'm very happy to be here, it's a dream come true to come to England and play in the Premier League," Fernandes told the club's website. 

"It's the best league in the world, in my opinion. It has the best coaches, the best players, the best teams. It's good for me, for my growth and I'm happy."

Fernandes ranked second among all Estoril players for chances created in the Portuguese top flight last season, with 39, also leading their charts for successful passes in the opposition half (534).

Birmingham manager Wayne Rooney is adamant he does not want VAR in the Sky Bet Championship despite his side being denied a clear penalty in their 3-1 defeat by Southampton.

Gavin Bazunu wiped out Oliver Burke just before half-time when the score was 2-0 but referee David Webb waved away the spot-kick shouts.

Instead, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Carlos Alcaraz and Adam Armstrong’s goals condemned Rooney to his third straight defeat as Blues boss.

“These decisions happen when you don’t have VAR,” said Rooney. “I’m not a fan of VAR and you accept referees and linesmen might make mistakes but what you can’t accept is the penalty decision.

“It is ridiculous and everyone in the stadium could see it.

“The keeper is committed and is coming at pace and is reckless. If he is coming like that then he has to win the ball but he absolutely wipes out Burkey.

“The most frustrating thing is that the fourth official told me that the referee was clear in his decision and wasn’t willing to take advice from his fourth official and assistant.

“He was clear there was minimal contact. That is a worry for me.

“I hope VAR doesn’t filter down but we would have got a penalty if VAR was here.

“I know referees will make mistakes, I can accept that but for me that was too much and a big error.”

Southampton manager Russell Martin agreed, saying: “I haven’t seen it back but at the time I thought it was a penalty.

“I feel for Wayne and if he’s frustrated with that I would be as well.

“It was a moment of madness from Gav. He hadn’t had a lot to do at that point.”

Saints opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Harwood-Bellis nodded in his first goal for the club from Adam Armstrong’s cross.

Alcaraz added a second from close range after fine work from Kamaldeen Sulemana and Stuart Armstrong.

Jay Stansfield wonderfully bent in his fourth goal of the season 52 seconds after coming off the bench but Adam Armstrong settled things with his eighth career goal against Birmingham.

Rooney added: “I thought Southampton were the better team and there are no complaints that they won the game.

“For where we are at, we could have come away from this game with something. There are positives for coming to the best team in the league at playing football but there is still a lot for us to work on.”

It was Southampton’s sixth game unbeaten and Martin said: “It has been a really nice run, especially after the run that came before that.

“That probably makes me more proud of the players and the staff for the way they came through that. It has been beautiful to see the growth in that time.

“To see them smiling together and fighting for each other, it has been brilliant to be a part of it.

“We played some beautiful stuff in the first half with so much energy and aggression, without giving them much threat.

“I’m annoyed we conceded the goal as Gavin deserved a clean sheet.

“We deserved to win and should have scored a few more goals, so there is a bit of frustration but I’m there to be relentless with the lads.

“It has been a brilliant week for us and now we have to keep going.”

Adam Armstrong scored his eighth goal of the season as Southampton eased to a 3-1 Sky Bet Championship victory and condemned Wayne Rooney to a third straight defeat as Birmingham manager.

Forward Armstrong now has eight career goals against Blues, more than he has scored against any other side, as he settled the game with a fine finish.

He had set up Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ opener before Carlos Alcaraz tapped in – both players’ first goals of the season. Jay Stansfield pulled one back for the visitors but it could not help end Rooney’s winless run.

Southampton had monopolised the opening stages without creating anything clear-cut until Harwood-Bellis nodded in the ninth-minute opener.

Armstrongs Stuart and Adam worked a short-corner routine before the latter lifted for the Manchester City loanee to power in his third professional goal, and first since last September.

Blues rallied but Oliver Burke’s lashed effort into the side netting – their only shot of the first half – poked the hosts back into life.

Kamaldeen Sulemana and Stuart Armstrong linked up smartly on the left flank before the Ghanaian slid across the face of the goal for Alcaraz to push in.

Rooney had been booed after Wednesday’s 2-0 home defeat by Hull, and Saints supporters rubbed their advantage in with a round of “sacked in the morning” aimed at the Manchester United great.

But rather than rub further salt into the wound of Rooney’s poor start, Birmingham fans supported their boss with cries of “Rooney, Rooney” and “Wayne Rooney’s Blue Army”.

Their support should have been rewarded with a spot-kick but goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu got away with flattening Burke in the box.

Saints should have gone into the break with more than a two-goal advantage as Harwood-Bellis’ free header from a corner skipped wide and Adam Armstrong clipped a one-on-one over John Ruddy but wide of the goal.

After the break, Stuart Armstrong tamely ended a well-worked move and Adam Armstrong’s diving header flashed wide.

But the hosts floundered and Blues capitalised. Stansfield jumped off the bench, met Lukas Jutkiewicz’s knockdown, bullied his way past Kyle Walker-Peters and rifled into the top corner – all within 52 seconds of his 57th-minute introduction.

It was Stansfield’s fourth goal of the season and extended Southampton’s wait for a home clean sheet to 28 matches.

But Saints held onto the ball well and made sure of the result in the 86th minute when top-scorer Adam Armstrong pounced and swivelled onto Sam Edozie’s nod down.

Scott Hogan curled one onto the roof of the goal in additional time but it could not stop Saints moving to a sixth game unbeaten to cement their place in the play-off spots.