It will be a battle between the 7th and 8th teams in the BPL as Everton take on Swansea City, here are five things to look for. 

1. Offensive support from the wings 

In their game against Chelsea, Roberto Martinez started the likes of Arouna Kone alongside Romelu Lukaku as a second striker to the Belgian. But an injury to Muhammed Besic changed all that as Steven Naismith was brought on and played mostly on the wing. It will be interesting to see if Martinez choses to have Lukaku as the lone striker up top with the likes of Kevin Mirallas and Gerard Deulofeu supporting Ross Barkley - and having the McCarthy-Barry duo in the back. He went with three in the midfield versus Chelsea but expect him to be more aggresive against Swansea.  

2. Ayew and Gomis - Everton's backline

It will be another tough defensive matchup for the Toffees as they face one of the hottest offensive teams in football. Andre Ayew and Bafétimbi Gomis have been on a tear. The former Marseille man Ayew has 3 goals and an assist in five games and Gomis has scored four goals in five games. They were shockingly held by Watford 1-0 last week but look for the dangerous duo to bounce back and give Everton's back line all it can handle. 

3. Ross Barkley's offensive play

Although Ross Barkley has been great for Everton in terms of creating chances, the England midfielder seems to be rushing his shots and not taking smarter touches. Some of his shots have shanked off his foot or have gone horribly wide of the goal. Barkley is still being a threat on the offensive end but testing the goalkeeper when he shoots will help the Everton attack. 

4. The battle of the midfield 

Gareth Barry and James McCarthy did a great job against Chelsea as they controlled the midfield and that was a big reason why Everton walked away with a 3-1 win. 

With the likes of Ayew and Jonjo Shelvey roaming around the midfield and Gomis up top, the duo will likely have to be on top of their game if they want to keep Swansea off the score sheet. 

5. Watch out for the counter-attack 

With speed on the wings and great attacking quality, both Everton and Swansea are great teams on the counter. We saw versus Southampton that the Toffees are deadly on the counter and Swansea showed it against Manchester United. It will be key for both teams to see that they do not get caught out of position and find themselves vulnerable. 

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About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu