It promises to be an exciting Super Sunday with two heavy-weight clashes coming up. While at Wembley Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool take on Mauricio Pochettino, Everton will welcome Arsenal to Goodison Park.
Everton has had a disappointing start to the season, to say the least. In the summer transfer market, Farhad Moshiri backed the Everton board and Ronald Koeman to bring in an arsenal of summer signings that saw Everton spend a net amount of £142.38m.
Tipped by many to challenge the ‘top six’, Koeman’s side was expected to fight for a Champions League spot this time. Eight matches into the season and Everton are languishing at the bottom half of the table with eight points from as many games.
They have just collected a grand total of one point from their four big matches against Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, with the 1-1 draw at the Etihad the only positive result. While the results itself do not create many issues, it is the spineless nature of these defeats that have left the Everton fans fuming.
Everton shipped in 9 goals in their three matches against Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham without reply. Add to this their defeat against Burnley and the last minute Wayne Rooney penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion along with their subpar displays in Europe, and Koeman’s job suddenly does not look very safe.
The 1-2 defeat at Goodison Park in the midweek against Lyon sparked an ugly brawl that saw Everton fans get involved. While Koeman rued the incident, he chose to ponder over the referee’s inability to add a couple of extra minutes instead of accepting that his team should not have been trailing 1-2 after ninety minutes in a must-win match at home.
Everton will go into the match this weekend knowing that nothing but a win or at least a spirited draw can earn them some praise and respect back in the eyes of the fans.
As for Wenger’s men, they have won seven and lost two of their last ten matches in all competitions. They will have plenty of reason to be positive and will want to take all 3 points looking at Everton’s current predicament. However, last week’s comeback defeat to Watford showed Arsenal that they must not squander their chances in the Premier League as anybody can beat anybody here.
Team News:
Everton will continue to be without Yannick Bolasie, Ramiro Funes Mori, Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley and Aaron Lennon, all of whom miss out due to injuries.
Arsenal will be without long-term absentee Santi Cazorla, defender Calum Chambers and Shkodran Mustafi.
Predicted lineups:
Everton (3-4-1-2):
Pickford; Keane, Jagielka, Williams; Holgate, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Baines; Sigurdsson; Rooney, Calvert-Lewin
Arsenal (3-4-3):
Cech; Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac; Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette
Predictions:
Everton 3-3 Arsenal
Betting Odds:
Everton: 3/1
Draw: 13/5
Arsenal: 1/1
