Premier League: Sticky Time for Toffees!

Premier League: Sticky Time for Toffees!

Everton vs West Ham United

The international weekend came at a bad moment for Everton. Two weeks is a long time to mull over four consecutive defeats, and now the pressure is on as Toffees get back to business.

West Ham are the visitors to Goodison Park as the Premier League returns, and Everton’s under-fire head coach Marco Silva desperately needs a win. The Toffees are in the bottom three, but with an expensively assembled squad, their fans are understandably mystified.

And the pre-match Everton vs West Ham betting odds have the hosts as odds-on favourites at 1.95 to win a game against another team packed with exciting talent. So work that out!

Talking Points

Silva must now deliver on his potential

Something is amiss at Goodison Park and Marco Silva needs to work it out quickly. Of course, it doesn’t help that, just across Stanley Park, Jurgen Klopp has led the red half of Liverpool to European glory and an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

After a successful stint in Greece as boss of Olympiacos, Silva arrived in England in 2017 full of hope that he could keep Hull City in the top flight, but he narrowly failed. He signed a two-year contract to manage Watford but moved to Everton a year later after Watford’s form dipped following an alleged approach from the Toffees. He led Everton to an eighth-place finish and prepared to advance with a £100m spend in the summer, bringing in the likes of Alex Iwobi, from Arsenal, and Fabian Delph from Manchester City.

But five defeats from eight have left the Toffees languishing in 18^th on seven points. This is pretty much a must-win game for the hosts.

The pre-match Everton vs West Ham news surrounds a key absentee.

Skipper Seamus Coleman will be unavailable after he suffered a red card in Everton’s defeat to Burnley before the international break. The wing-back was sent off again, just ten days later, in Ireland’s defeat to Switzerland. It seems totally out of character for Coleman and as baffling as Everton’s predicament.

The ever spiky Burnley fans sang ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ to Silva at the end of that defeat, the fourth league loss in a row, and he now needs his team to show real character when the Hammers come to town.

Everton’s last home game resulted in a 1-3 defeat to Manchester City. The Toffees were well in the game in the first half but crumbled after the Sky Blues went ahead.

Haller is a Happy Hammer

West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini can be happy with his work over the summer period, with his main recruit Sebastien Haller already winning plenty of fans. The 6ft 3-inch striker has settled well in East London since his £45m switch from Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring four goals in seven games. He bagged one in the recent home defeat to Crystal Palace and was frustrated not to have added more, seeing two close-range efforts saved.

Alongside Haller, Andriy Yarmolenko is in good form too. The Hammers were at their best in beating Manchester United 2-0 last month and Yarmolenko scored one of his three goals in that win.

With the creative skill and pace of Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson in support, the Hammers have a serious attacking threat.

History

Everton have had the better of the head to head clashes in the Premier League era, winning 26 to West Ham’s ten, and there have been 13 draws since 1994.

But the Hammers won at Goodison Park last season when they were in a similar situation to the one Everton find themselves in right now. A double strike by Yarmolenko gave West Ham a first win of the season to start their climb away from the drop zone.

West Ham are unbeaten away from home this term, winning one and drawing three, and with Everton on a four-match losing run Pellegrini will be confident of keeping their record intact.

Betting Tip

Double Chance West Ham or Draw @ 1.78

With Everton at SBOBET odds of 1.95 to win, the Goodison faithful will be full of hope that they are about to turn a corner, but this is an improved West Ham, and all three results are well in play; with the draw at 3.40 and an away win at 3.75.

I can see another tough afternoon for the Toffees and a 1-1 draw, at odds of 6.60, make a decent long-shot bet.

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

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