Everton are all set to host a shaky Fulham side in the Premier League at Goodison Park. The Toffees are desperate to get back to winning ways as they try to distance themselves from the relegation battle.
Despite Sean Dyche’s side’s own poor form in recent, they’re facing a Fulham side that has shown a real dip in form since their FA Cup exit to Manchester United last month. That could give a little bit of a booster to Everton and their chances of getting back to scoring points.
This battle between two sides in completely different situations, with Everton struggling to stay away from the bottom three and Fulham hoping for a 10-finish, should be an action-packed clash where the team that is mentally strongest will prevail.
Last 5 Games
Everton are actually heading into this game in much better form than Fulham, despite the London side being well above them in the league table. This could give Dyche’s side some kind of an incentive to push for a valuable win and provide more misery to Fulham.
Everton: 17th
Loss: 2-0 vs Manchester United
Draw: 1-1 vs Tottenham Hotspur
Draw: 2-2 vs Chelsea
Win: 1-0 vs Brentford
Draw: 2-2 vs Nottingham Forest
Fulham: 10th
Loss: 1-0 vs West Ham United
Losss: 2-1 vs Bournemouth
Loss: 3-1 vs Manchester United
Loss: 3-0 vs Arsenal
Loss: 3-2 vs Brentford
Team News
Everton are still missing their key striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is out with a thigh injury and is yet to have been given a return date. Seamus Coleman suffered a knock against Manchester United but is expected to be back for this.
The Toffees are also going to miss winger Andros Townsend, who is out with a knee injury as well as defender Ruben Vinagre. Abdoulaye Doucoure is suspended for this game after getting sent off in the draw against Tottenham Hotspur earlier this season.
The biggest absence for Fulham is that of their striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who was sent off in the loss to United. He got hit with a huge eight-game ban due to pushing the referee in that altercation and will not be playing a single game for his side this month.
Neeskens Kabano is also out with a calf injury, while left-back Layvin Kurzawa is unlikely to be able to recover for this game in time for the Everton clash.
Head-to-Head
Everton and Fulham have faced each other on 66 occasions in their history, out of which Everton have actually won on 31 occasions.
These two teams met earlier this season in the Premier League, playing out a relatively boring 0-0 draw in which neither were able to get the better of the other. Fans will expect that isn’t repeated this time around.
Where the game will be decided
Despite the poor form of both teams heading into this game, this could be a thrilling clash because of their desperation to get back to winning ways after a lengthy drought.
This game could be decided by who is able to win the midfield battle. It’s likely to be one filled with swift breaks and counter-attacks because both Fulham and Everton are currently reliant on those to create chances from open play.
Everton will probably need Andre Onana and Idrissa Gueye at their best to avert Fulham’s threat. They’ll need the proactive midfield duo to be on their toes, winning back the ball and feeding it quickly to forwards like Alex Iwobi, Dwight McNeill, and Demarai Gray – who need to be more decisive in the final third than they were against Manchester United.
Fulham have quite a lot of creativity in midfield, with the likes of Andreas Pereira, Joao Palhinha, and Willian all capable of setting up big chances. They will, however, need their backline to be sturdier than they’ve been in recent weeks and for misfiring forward Carlos Vinicius to get firing to trouble Everton.
Prediction
We back Everton to get back to winning ways in this game. Fulham are seemingly in free-fall mode this season and the fact that they lost to relegation contenders like Bournemouth and West Ham recently will motivate the Toffees to take the fight to them.
Sean Dyche’s side has the quality to get a result but will need to really feed off the energy of the crowd to get inspired to get a win. They’ll need to be clinical in finishing chances and are likely to really trouble Fulham with their dangerous set-piece routine.
Fulham might get in the scoresheet, but this game could be a season-defining one for Everton and one where they’ll aim to give their entire might to get a win.
Prediction: Everton 2-1 Fulham
Odds
Everton to win: 21/20
Draw: 47/20
Fulham to win: 11/4
Everton are the bookmakers’ favorite to come as victors in this one with 21/20 odds. That means if one was to bet $1 on them, they’d get a return of $2.05 in the favored result – with a profit of $1.05.
In case one were to bet on Fulham to win with their 11/4 odds, then a $1 bet on them to win would see them get a return of $3.75 – with an impressive profit of $2.75.
Kick-Off Time
The game will kick off at 15:00 PM GMT and the referee will be Anthony Taylor.
