Everton face a nightmare run as 30 days could define their farewell to Goodison Park

Everton face a crucial December, where the club will have to face one of the toughest festive schedules the schedule could have put up.

Sean Dyche will manage the Blues in six games in 26 games which will include the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

The month begins with the club hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers before the visit of Liverpool is followed by a trip to Arsenal, a home game with Chelsea and then the trip to Manchester City, which is currently scheduled for Boxing Day. The month will end in L4 with Nottingham Forest at Goodison on December 29.

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The calendar is an intriguing month where Dyche will need to rely on his squad to deliver a hectic festive schedule similar to the one he criticized last year as games were loaded in December before a relatively quiet January.

Despite the crowd, the month was actually one in which Everton produced one of their strongest runs of the last campaign, coming through what initially looked like a daunting fixture list to win four games in a row. Newcastle United, Chelsea, Burnley and Forest were all eliminated in a sensational run made all the more impressive as it came in response to the unprecedented 10-point deduction, later reduced to six, which could have sent the players into despair, but instead fueled an emphatic response on and off the field.

The club ended the month with a defeat at Tottenham Hotspur that was mired in controversy over decisions that cost Everton the chance to grab a landmark win from one of their best performances of the season. Man City then left Goodison with a hard-fought victory after another battle in which the Blues took the lead before conceding a questionable penalty that sparked a comeback from Pep Guardiola.

Everton will be looking to repeat those heroics as the season enters one of its most exciting periods. With Everton also visiting Old Trafford on November 30, Dyche will have to plan for an unforgiving 30 days where Goodison Park will be crucial to upsetting the Grand Old Lady’s final Christmas side.