• 1
  Spurs go into this sitting 18th with just a single point from three games, not the kind of start anyone at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was picturing back in August. Everton, by contrast, are unbeaten and up in 8th on five points, so three points here would look like proof they're not just plucky underdogs this season. For Spurs it's simpler: stop the bleeding, or the pressure on the manager starts getting loud.
• 2
  History says this should be straightforward for Tottenham. They've won their last five home games against Everton and lost just once in their last 17 at home to the Toffees, a handy record to have when your attack has gone missing. Everton haven't won away in the league in six attempts either, so recent form on both sides of that stat points the same way, even if this season's league table says something different.
• 3
  Keep an eye on Iliman Ndiaye for Everton. He's reportedly the player Manchester United are sniffing around, with a move currently stuck because nobody's sure what's happening with Marcus Rashford. Nothing motivates a forward quite like being the transfer gossip of the week, and if he has a big afternoon at Spurs, expect the noise around him to get considerably louder.
• 4
  Tottenham are navigating early turbulence under Roberto De Zerbi, who admitted this week that 'the fans are waiting for a signal from us' — management-speak for 'yes, we know it's been bad'. Spurs haven't scored in any of their three league games so far, and with Maddison only just working his way back from a shoulder injury and Kulusevski, Odobert and Simons all still out, De Zerbi's attacking options are thin. Everton have their own worry in James Garner, whose fitness issue at least gave Ainsley Maitland-Niles the chance to make an instant impact off the bench.
• 5
  Tottenham are one of only three Premier League clubs yet to score a single goal this season, and a blank here would mean four scoreless league games to start a campaign, something that's never happened in the club's history. That's the kind of stat that makes even neutral fans want to tune in just to see whether the curse breaks, or gets worse.

• 1
  Roberto De Zerbi is Tottenham's third head coach in barely a year, brought in last season specifically to stop them going down — which he did, on the final day, beating Everton 2-0 with the club needing exactly that result to survive.
• 2
  This season is his first full campaign in charge, and he's led a genuinely major summer spending spree alongside sporting director Johan Lange and the club's hierarchy — the kind of outlay that raises the stakes on every poor result rather than lowering the pressure.
• 3
  The start hasn't matched the ambition: back-to-back defeats to open the season, including a chastening 0-2 loss at home to Newcastle where two of Newcastle's own summer signings did the damage, before Forest held them to a goalless draw that De Zerbi's side were relieved to take as their first point.
• 4
  De Zerbi has already had to publicly defend the summer spending — not the conversation a club wants to be having in September after paying for a rescue job and a rebuild in the same calendar year.
• 5
  Spurs avoided relegation by a matter of days last spring, which means every slow start this season reads differently to their fans than it would at a club with more cushion — there's real history behind the anxiety, not just habit.

• 1
  Everton finished 13th last season — their first campaign at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium down at Bramley-Moore Dock, a 52,000-seater that dwarfs old Goodison Park. The football's been steadier than spectacular so far. But the stadium itself, not the table position, is what most fans want to talk about right now.
• 2
  New signing Ainsley Maitland-Niles marked his Everton debut with an outrageous stoppage-time equaliser to deny Manchester United victory. It turned what looked like a damp home defeat into a 2-2 draw that Everton fans will be replaying for weeks. Not a bad way to introduce yourself to a new set of supporters.
• 3
  The club has been quietly tweaking the match-day experience too, including cheaper pints for the first 45 minutes at some of this season's opening home games. It's a small thing, but it shows how seriously Everton are taking feedback after their first year in the new ground.
• 4
  Everton have spent three straight seasons finishing in the bottom half of the table, so a settled mid-table campaign in a spectacular new home now counts as genuine progress. It's not the kind of consistency the club had in mind a decade ago, but it beats what came before it.
• 5
  Bring up the stadium with an Everton fan and you'll get pure pride. Bring up the last relegation battle they were dragged into and you'll get a noticeably more haunted look. Stick to the former.