Seamus Coleman has urged his Everton teammates to beware the wounded animal when they welcome West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
The Baggies opened their campaign with a home defeat against Southampton last weekend, losing out to a last-minute spot-kick.
Coleman has reason to keep tabs on the Midlanders when he tracks the progress of Republic of Ireland colleague Shane Long.
And he says our hurting visitors will be desperate to rectify their disappointing start.
“It’s going to be a difficult game,” the full-back told evertontv. “They’re coming off the back of a defeat so they’ll be coming all guns blazing to get a result at Goodison. It’s up to us to stop them and hopefully we can get the three points.”
Striker Long was chosen to partner new signing Nicolas Anelka last weekend, earning his place ahead of Matěj Vydra, the loan acquisition from Udinese.
Anelka will miss Saturday’s fixture following the death of his agent and is thought to be considering his future in the game.
And with Romelu Lukaku having returned to Chelsea following a successful loan stint at the Hawthorns last term, Coleman believes Long will be a more important player than ever this term.
“He’s a nightmare for centre-halves and for the 90 minutes he’s all go and he’s very fast,” he said. “But obviously we’ve got three or four very good centre-halves and hopefully we can keep him quiet.
“I’ve not spoken to him about the game but hopefully we’ll get chatting after and we’ll have all three points in the bag.”