I am a bit disappointed that I won't be at Goodison Park this weekend, for a fixture that I always consider to be one of English football's classic games.
Everton versus Tottenham is a contest steeped in history, and this season's meeting promises to be a genuinely enthralling affair, between two sides that have very similar aspirations.
Spurs have nudged ahead of Everton in recent weeks, aided by the superb form of the likes of Gareth Bale – who, gladly for Everton, will be missing on Sunday – and Jermain Defoe. Defoe is a player who I have always felt is undervalued. He has been around for a long time, but has always seemed to me to be someone who is being made to fight for his position.
I don't understand that, what a goalscorer he is. How a club like Everton, for example, would have appreciated a player like him over the past five years or so.
Everton thought they had found their Defoe, their talisman, when they signed Nikica Jelavic back in January. The Croatian had a whirlwind start to his Goodison career, but he heads into Sunday's game as a striker under pressure, with just one goal since October.
I must confess to voicing doubts about Jelavic when he signed. Doubts about his hold-up play, his work rate and his general contribution to the team.
Of course, all those 'weaknesses' are forgiven when he is in the kind of goalscoring form he was in during his first six months at the club, but when the goals dry up the questions are inevitable.
Jelavic's all-round game has not been great in recent weeks. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for David Moyes, there are not too many alternatives lurking within the Everton squad at the moment.
It is down to the player to raise his game. Leon Osman has been speaking this week about the need to share the goalscoring burden across the team, and he is right. But Jelavic is a striker signed to score goals, a striker who has built his career on scoring goals. He needs to start doing it on a regular basis for Everton.
His first goal for the club came against Spurs, and what a wonderful strike that was. Sunday would be a good time for him to rediscover that kind of form. How Everton need it, because Jelavic is a player who can turn these draws into wins.
