Goodison Park is the venue for an exciting Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon as Everton are set to host West Ham, with the game set to kick off at 15:00.
The Toffee’s survival chances were given a huge boost during the midweek as their 10-point points deduction was reduced to six. This meant that they jumped above Nottingham Forest and Brentford into 15th position.
An inability to convert draws into victories has cost Everton in recent weeks as they have drawn five of their last six league games. These draws have come against the likes of Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Fulham.
Last weekend, Everton suffered another frustrating draw as the blues were unable to capitalise on a man-advantage. Jarrad Branthwaite opened the scoring in the second period before Billy Gilmour was shown a straight red card. In unlikely circumstances, Lewis Dunk headed home a 95th minute equaliser to ensure that the points were shared.
Following a mixed run of results, West Ham currently find themselves in 8th position in the league table, having gained 39 points from their 26 games this season.
Coming into last week, West Ham had been in a terrible run of form which had seen them record three straight defeats. These defeats had come against Man united, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. Prior to Monday evening, the Hammers had not recorded a league win this calendar year.
However, David Moyes’ side looked back to their best when they took on Brentford on Monday night at the London Stadium. Jarrod Bowen stole the show with a first-half brace, before adding another after the break to claim his first career hat-trick.
Neal Maupay pulled one back for Brentford, but Emerson's stunning strike restored the Hammers' two-goal advantage. Yoane Wissa netted a late consolation for the Bees, but it proved to be in vain as West Ham secured all three points.
The fixture of Everton vs West ham has a long and storied history, with the two sides having first met in 1907 in the FA Cup. In total, these two sides have met on 150 competitive occasions, with the Blues having a better record winning 75 games, compared with 44 West Ham wins.
It was Everton who came out on top when these two sides met earlier on in the season at the London Stadium. In a game of few chances, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s second-half strike gave Sean Dyche’s side a narrow victory over the Hammers.
It is Everton who come into this game as favourites at the bookies and are currently priced @ 17/20, whilst an away win for West Ham is priced @ 3/1 and a draw is currently @ 13/5.
We are backing Everton to win and under 2.5 goals because this has been a fixture which often results in low scoring affairs. Out of the last seven meetings between the two sides, only one game has seen over 2.5 goals and there have been four 1-0 results.