Leicester City could move top of the Premier League table against Everton on Wednesday and are looking to stay in the hunt for as long as possible.
The Foxes are third, just a point behind leaders Tottenham and champions Liverpool, who play one another on the same day.
That fixture provides Leicester with an opportunity to leapfrog the pair, although Brendan Rodgers expects the title race to go down to the wire.
"It'll be tight," Rodgers said. "It's the nature of the league this season, with all the games and the competitiveness of the games and the quality of the teams.
"It'll be tighter than what it's been for the last couple of seasons.
"There is still such long way to go but all the teams playing European football have a period until February where they don't play so many games and will be a bit fresher.
"It's been an interesting start and nice to be in and around it.
"It's been great to see Southampton and ourselves up there, West Ham and the other teams. It's the job of every team to challenge and be up there as long as you can."
Everton looked set to challenge, too, but their form wavered before beating Chelsea last time out.
Carlo Ancelotti is positive but sees work to do, explaining: "We are not at the same level as these teams.
"The fact we competed - with Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea - is important for us. It means we are not so far from the top but we are not there yet."
He added: "If we want to have a good result against Leicester, we have to do the same performance we did against Chelsea: defend well, be focused there."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City - Kelechi Iheanacho
Iheanacho was an unused substitute as Leicester breezed past Brighton and Hove Albion, but he might be called from the bench in a tighter contest against Everton. The striker has been brought on to score in his past two Premier League appearances against the Toffees. Only Julian Joachim versus Derby County and Olivier Giroud versus Southampton have previously netted in three consecutive games as a sub against any single opponent in the competition.
Everton - Gylfi Sigurdsson
His decisive goal might have come from the penalty spot, but Sigurdsson was heavily involved throughout in Everton's win over Chelsea. The winner was one of two shots, while he also created six chances. He is the only Toffees player to forge six opportunities in a game since the start of the 2017-18 campaign and has now done so three times.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- Leicester have won three of their past five home league games against Everton (L2), as many as they had in their previous 16 against the Toffees (W3 D7 L6).
- Everton have kept just one clean sheet in their past 15 Premier League games against Leicester, doing so in a 2-0 away win in December 2016.
- After 13 of the first 18 Premier League games between Leicester and Everton had ended in a draw, none of the most recent 10 meetings between the sides in the competition have finished level (five wins each).
- This will be Everton's 100th Premier League game to be played on a Wednesday. They have won just 29.3 per cent of their games on this day (W29 D29 L41), only having a lower win rate on Thursdays in the competition (12.5 per cent).
- Ancelotti has won all three of his meetings with Rodgers in all competitions, winning twice with Real Madrid in 2014-15 versus Liverpool in the Champions League and with Everton versus Leicester in the Premier League in July.
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