Apollon visit Goodison Park on Thursday to take on Everton, looking to add to the positive start to their Europa League campaign.
The Limassol side scored an injury-time equaliser in their group opener against French side Lyon, and now face another tough challenge against the big-spending Premier League side.
After a tough derby against rivals AEL over the weekend, which ended in the points being shared in a 1-1 draw, Apollon boss Sofronis Avgousti will be pleased that he has a near full list of players to choose from.
Everyone apart from veteran midfielder Constantinos Makrides is available for the trip to Merseyside.
He also believes that the trip to Goodison is “the toughest away match in the group against a very strong Everton side”.
Everton were one of the Premier League’s biggest spenders over the summer, with over €150 million lashed out on new players, including the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea and Davy Klaassen from Ajax.
Then, of course, there is Wayne Rooney, who returned to his boyhood club from Manchester United in the summer
Yet for all of their spending, the season has not started as planned for Ronald Koeman’s side, with just seven points on the board from their first six matches. Their 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday was their first since their opening day success against Stoke City.
On Matchday One of the Europa League against Atalanta, Everton were brushed aside in a 3-0 defeat in Italy, putting even more pressure on the Toffees to get a win against Apollon.
For the visit of Apollon, Everton have a number of defensive worries. In addition to long-term absentee Seamus Coleman, Koeman expects £30 million summer signing Michael Keane to be out for Thursday night as well as central defensive colleague Phil Jagielka.
Rooney suffered a painful cut above his eye against Bournemouth, though the Dutch manager insisted it was a tactical substitution rather than a concern over his vision. His replacement, Omar Niasse, came on to turn the game on its head with two goals, and could be rewarded with a start against the Cypriots.
While far from a disaster, Apollon have not started their domestic campaign as they would have wished either. The title hopefuls have won one of their opening three matches, a 4-2 victory over Ermis, and drawn the other two.
As is the case with most Cypriot sides in Europe, away results have been hard to come by for Apollon. In their last 16 away games on the continent, they have managed four wins, two draws and ten defeats. In their six group matches away from home, they won their first ever against Legia Warsaw but have lost their last five.
Everton generally tend to do well in front of their own supporters, winning six of their last seven European matches at Goodison Park.
The match kicks-off 10.05pm Cyprus time and a healthy number of Apollon fans are expected to have made the trip, both in the form of Limassol residents and from the large contingent of students studying in cities nearby.