Match Preview: Everton v Tottenham Hotspur (light or doom?)

 

Match Preview: Everton v Tottenham Hotspur (light or doom?)

Stadium: Goodison Park April 16 2021, at 8 pm.

Just when we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, along comes a truck that bangs us off course. United, Newcastle the Arse has set us back considerably… Our up and down season has seen us at the top of the League, then gradually sink down to near death, then miraculously climb back up to a fighting position (as the other top clubs took a dive) and now, low and behold… we’ve dropped points again.

Now we face the toffee munchers from Liverpool on Friday night. We are currently six points behind – yes – favourites for relegation at the beginning of the season, the Spammers. Again, we are now looking at others to help us out (dropping points).

 The Bubble Blowers face strugglers, the Toons. That is this Saturday. On Monday, the victors over City (Leeds United) face Liverpool. City and the Russians are in the FA Cup knock-out competition, so they won’t be gaining any league points this weekend. That means if we win, we go above the Russians. This weekend is a mixed bag of hopes and fingers crossed. It is in part in our own hands and part praying for divine intervention (where the other teams are concerned). With the Covid,  no fans, our up and down performances, it has been a shit year and season.

If we lose, would it help if Mourinho was sacked? According to fellow blogger Don Scully, the problem lies with Levy, not old Jose! If you want to read that article click HERE.

Now I’ve said my piece, to Friday’s match:

TEAM NEWS

Everton

Allan, Andre Gomes, Josh King and Jordan Pickford are all available after injury.

However, Bernard, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Fabian Delph and Yerry Mina remain on the sidelines.

Spurs

We are still without injured full-backs Ben Davies and Matt Doherty. Apart from these two, we will have a fully fit squad.

My thoughts and Prediction

Both the Toffee munchers and the Lilywhites will be looking to give our hopes of finishing in the top four a boost when we meet at Goodison Park this Friday night. The Sticky-Toffee fudgers are currently eighth in the table, seven points behind fourth-placed Spammers, while we occupy seventh position, six points off the Champions League positions. All exciting stuff!

Everton have lost seven of their 15 league games at Goodison Park this term, but they have already beaten us twice this season - once in the Premier League and once in the FA Cup, so will it be third time unlucky for them? Hope so! Otherwise, the shit will hit the fan, either for Levy or Mourinho or both.

Meanwhile, we have only won one of our last four in the League and will enter this match off the back of a 3-1 humiliation to Manchester United on Sunday. We took the lead against United through Son, but an impressive second-half performance from our opponents saw us lose the match.

We will face Manchester City in the EFL Cup final on April 25, but we were knocked out of the Europa League by Dinamo Zagreb last month, and there is enormous pressure on Mourinho to claim a Champions League spot for the 2021-22 campaign.

If we lose this match, we will drop down to eight.

We have only won one of our last five matches in all competitions with Everton, while they have dropped points in nine of their 16 away league matches this term.

My Prediction; 1-2 or 2-3 to us.

Everton Premier League form:

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Everton form (all competitions):

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Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

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Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

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My possible starting lineup: Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Rodon, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Sissoko; Lucas, Ndombele, Son; Kane

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Everton's 1-0 win in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season ended a run of 15 league games without a victory against us.

The Sticky Toffee munchers are aiming to win three consecutive meetings in all competitions for the first time since 1986.

We are unbeaten in our past seven away league matches against Everton since losing three in a row between January 2011 and December 2012.

We have won 27 Premier League matches against Everton, more than we have against any other side.

Everton

Everton are looking to avoid a fifth straight league match without a win for the first time since December 2018. The fifth game of that run was a 6-2 home defeat against us.

Another top-flight home defeat on Friday would be Everton's eighth this season, equalling their record for a 38-match Premier League campaign, set in both 1996-97 and 2015-16.

Only Fulham and Liverpool have earned fewer points at home in 2021 than Everton's tally of five.

The Toffees have 48 points after 30 matches - only one short of their final total last season.

Everton have won just 25% of their league games without Dominic Calvert-Lewin this season, compared to a 50% win rate when he has been involved.

Spurs

We have dropped 18 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, second only to Brighton's 20.

Everton could become just the third side to complete a league double against a side managed by Jose Mourinho. Both instances have been since he joined us: against Chelsea in 2019-20 and Liverpool this season.

Eleven of our 26 away league goals this season came in our first two matches. We’ve since scored just 15 times in our 14 games on the road.

Harry Kane needs one goal to become the fourth player to score as many as 20 in at least five Premier League seasons, emulating Alan Shearer (seven), Sergio Aguero (six) and Thierry Henry (five).

Well, that is it, and hopefully, we can pull something out of the hat for this season (to finish on a high). If not (if we can’t win this game), then I feel things will get very black for us. Fingers crossed that all results go our way this weekend.

Be safe, Glenn

Has your eye's seen the Glory? If yes (or even no) click HERE, they will do.

COYS!