Sunderland's entertaining 3-2 victory over Chelsea on Saturday,
combined with Newcastle United's draw at Aston Villa and Norwich City's
loss to Manchester United, has left them needing victory over Everton to
guarantee safety.
The Black Cats are one point clear of Newcastle, having played one match fewer than their north-east rivals, while Norwich are four points behind and, like Allardyce's men, have two fixtures left.
Sunderland have only lost one of their last nine top-flight fixtures, and they host an Everton side who suffered a 3-1 defeat at champions Leicester last time out, leaving them 12th with only one win from their last nine matches.
But Allardyce is not taking anything for granted and will know Sunderland have won only once in their last 10 home league meetings with Everton, who also beat them 6-2 in November's reverse fixture at Goodison Park.
"I think there will be a reaction from Roberto Martinez and the players," Allardyce said.
"There will be an instinctive response from Everton so it is by no means a foregone conclusion and I hope people don't think that because it will be anything but. They will try their best to spoil our evening.
"If we can secure another victory we are safe in the Premier League with one game to go, so it is obviously crucial for us to give as good a performance as we did against Chelsea.
"Everybody has been relaxed and enjoyed their day off, but now we have to focus on Wednesday's big game against Everton. We want to provide another outstanding performance."
Everton manager Martinez wants to see a turnaround in results before the end of the season.
"There is a lot riding on the game for us after the performance we had at Leicester," he said.
"We need to react and we need to perform in the highest possible level. I expect to have a performance on Wednesday.
"It is good that we have a game around the corner but the importance of our performance is as big as you could feel we had in any other day in the season."
Martinez will hope top scorer Romelu Lukaku rediscovers his goalscoring form. The striker has not scored in his last seven BPL appearances, his longest drought since January 2015 (eight matches).
Lamine Kone (thigh) is fit for Sunderland, meaning Billy Jones (hip) is their only absentee.
Everton are expected to be without Gerard Deulofeu (knee) and Phil Jagielka (hamstring), while they will check on Gareth Barry (groin) and Seamus Coleman (hamstring) ahead of kick-off.
Sunderland (from): Harper, Mannone, Pickford, Brown, Kaboul, Kirchhoff, Kone, Matthews, O'Shea, Van Aanholt, Yedlin, Buckley (at Birmingham until Feb 15), Cattermole, Khazri, Larsson, M'Vila, Rodwell, Borini, Defoe, Gooch, Lens, N'Doye, Toivonen, Watmore.
Everton (from): Howard, Joel, Stanek, Baines, Browning, Coleman, Funes Mori, Galloway, Hibbert, Holgate, Oviedo, Stones, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Cleverley, Gibson, Lennon, McCarthy, Mirallas, Osman, Pienaar, Kone, Lukaku, Niasse, Rodriguez.
Match Appointments
Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistants: L Betts, P Kirkup Fourth Official: L Mason
Match Facts
- Sunderland have won just one of their last 10 Barclays Premier League home matches against Everton (W1 D4 L5).
- Jermain Defoe netted just three goals in 17 league outings against Everton before joining Sunderland, but has scored in both of his matches for the Black Cats versus the Toffees.
- Two of the five occasions Everton has scored six goals or more in a BPL match have come against Sunderland (7-1 in November 2007 and 6-2 in November 2015).
- Sunderland have lost just one of their last nine league matches, winning two and drawing six.
The Black Cats are one point clear of Newcastle, having played one match fewer than their north-east rivals, while Norwich are four points behind and, like Allardyce's men, have two fixtures left.
Sunderland have only lost one of their last nine top-flight fixtures, and they host an Everton side who suffered a 3-1 defeat at champions Leicester last time out, leaving them 12th with only one win from their last nine matches.
But Allardyce is not taking anything for granted and will know Sunderland have won only once in their last 10 home league meetings with Everton, who also beat them 6-2 in November's reverse fixture at Goodison Park.
"I think there will be a reaction from Roberto Martinez and the players," Allardyce said.
"There will be an instinctive response from Everton so it is by no means a foregone conclusion and I hope people don't think that because it will be anything but. They will try their best to spoil our evening.
"If we can secure another victory we are safe in the Premier League with one game to go, so it is obviously crucial for us to give as good a performance as we did against Chelsea.
"Everybody has been relaxed and enjoyed their day off, but now we have to focus on Wednesday's big game against Everton. We want to provide another outstanding performance."
Everton manager Martinez wants to see a turnaround in results before the end of the season.
"There is a lot riding on the game for us after the performance we had at Leicester," he said.
"We need to react and we need to perform in the highest possible level. I expect to have a performance on Wednesday.
"It is good that we have a game around the corner but the importance of our performance is as big as you could feel we had in any other day in the season."
Martinez will hope top scorer Romelu Lukaku rediscovers his goalscoring form. The striker has not scored in his last seven BPL appearances, his longest drought since January 2015 (eight matches).
Lamine Kone (thigh) is fit for Sunderland, meaning Billy Jones (hip) is their only absentee.
Everton are expected to be without Gerard Deulofeu (knee) and Phil Jagielka (hamstring), while they will check on Gareth Barry (groin) and Seamus Coleman (hamstring) ahead of kick-off.
Sunderland (from): Harper, Mannone, Pickford, Brown, Kaboul, Kirchhoff, Kone, Matthews, O'Shea, Van Aanholt, Yedlin, Buckley (at Birmingham until Feb 15), Cattermole, Khazri, Larsson, M'Vila, Rodwell, Borini, Defoe, Gooch, Lens, N'Doye, Toivonen, Watmore.
Everton (from): Howard, Joel, Stanek, Baines, Browning, Coleman, Funes Mori, Galloway, Hibbert, Holgate, Oviedo, Stones, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Cleverley, Gibson, Lennon, McCarthy, Mirallas, Osman, Pienaar, Kone, Lukaku, Niasse, Rodriguez.
Match Appointments
Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistants: L Betts, P Kirkup Fourth Official: L Mason
Match Facts
- Sunderland have won just one of their last 10 Barclays Premier League home matches against Everton (W1 D4 L5).
- Jermain Defoe netted just three goals in 17 league outings against Everton before joining Sunderland, but has scored in both of his matches for the Black Cats versus the Toffees.
- Two of the five occasions Everton has scored six goals or more in a BPL match have come against Sunderland (7-1 in November 2007 and 6-2 in November 2015).
- Sunderland have lost just one of their last nine league matches, winning two and drawing six.
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