David Moyes faces tactical dilemmas and injury concerns as the Toffees travel to Stoke, with fans eager for a first look at summer signing Hayden Hackney.
Everton are preparing for their third game of pre-season as they take on Stoke City away from home on Tuesday night.
We're now approaching the middle of pre-season, and we're edging closer to the start of August. The Premier League returns in the third weekend of next month, and the Everton squad is still far away from being completed.
The Toffees still need multiple additions, while some players are yet to be fully implemented into the squad ahead of the new season.
One key absence for Everton heading into this game is James Garner, who has undergone surgery and is now in a race against time to be fit for the return of the Premier League.
Garner is yet to feature for Everton during pre-season, which is a crucial blow considering how important he is in David Moyes' side.
Tyler Dibling also missed Everton's last game against Bolton due to a minor knock, so there's every chance that he could be involved against Stoke.
Hayden Hackney is still yet to feature for Everton in pre-season as he continues to be integrated into the squad following his injury at the end of last season.
Travers; Rohl, O'Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Armstrong, Iroegbunam; Alcaraz, Dewsbury-Hall, George; Barry.
Once again, it's difficult to predict a starting 11 for a pre-season fixture, but you'd imagine Moyes will be looking to make some changes once again.
The likes of Dibling and Hackney are unlikely to start, but hopefully we'll be able to see them come on in the second half.
It will be interesting to see whether Moyes returns to his tried and tested 4-2-3-1 system after switching to a back five against Bolton.
The first thing I want to see is, as previously touched upon, minutes for new signing Hackney. It's imperative that Everton start to blend him into the senior squad, especially with there just being a few weeks until the start of the new season.
Even just a 45-minute run out will be exciting for fans as they look to see the new signing in action for the first time.
Secondly, it would be good to see the likes of Adam Aznou, Harrison Armstrong, and Dibling also getting a strong number of minutes. These are three players currently on the fringes at the moment, and Everton need to make a decision regarding their short-term futures.
It is important that we continue to test them against senior opposition in order to give us a better chance of making a well-informed decision on their futures.
Thirdly, it would be nice to see us start developing more attacking patterns of play in the final third. Everton struggled to create against Bolton, but they came close to scoring as Thierno Barry's strike was ruled out for offside.
The goal came from something we've been crying out for for many years now: a full-back bombing in, putting in a beautiful cross for Barry to tap home.
That full back was, of course, Merlin Rohl, and it would be great to see some attacking impetus from full backs once again. Everton need to start showing more creativity from open play if they want to progress next season.