Everton V Manchester United Betting: Saturday, 20th February (SKY SPORTS)

Everton V Manchester United

Saturday, 20^th February – 12:45 GMT (Sky Sports 1)

The first fixture of the weekend is an early one as Everton host title chasing Manchester United at Goodison Park in what is shaping up as a really tough game to call. Both these two teams have been playing outstandingly well in recent weeks, with Everton boasting a 2-1 first leg win in Europe over Sporting Lisbon and a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the league, while their opponents will be buoyed by their Champions League win over Italian giants AC Milan; so who will reign victorious when these two in-form sides meet on Saturday? It’s a game that will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 and it’s one we highly recommended you don’t miss and it should be a close encounter.

Everton

League Position: 9th

Recent Form: WWWLW

The Toffees, whom don’t boast an impressive record against Manchester United in the league; Winning just one of the last ten meetings with their Northern rivals,  will be optimistic over their chances after two huge wins within the space of a week. Their last outing in the league was a home fixture with Chelsea, in which Everton produced the shock of the week when turning Chelsea over in a 2-1 win, while they won by the same scoreline on Tuesday night, just a week after they beat Chelsea, by beating Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon at Goodison Park in what proved to be a very good seven day spell for David Moyes and Everton.

A narrow and unfortunate 1-0 defeat at Liverpool earlier in the month is the only blemish in an otherwise sublime run of form Everton, having gone eleven games in the league with just one defeat. Moreover, The Toffees have notched up four wins from their last five league fixtures, so it’s actually them, the home side, who go into this exciting little fixture with the better form – League form anyway. To bolster their United credentials even further, Everton produced an utter magic display the Tuesday before last to record a stunning 2-1 victory over Chelsea, the current leaders of the Premiership. Add that to victories over Man City (2-0), Sunderland (2-0) & Wigan (0-1), and Everton’s form is looking particularly strong.  

Their last outing was a Europa League tie, although we didn’t have the chance to watch that nor see Distin’s red card. However, we did see glimpses of their match with Chelsea, of which Everton were nothing short of sensational in terms of work rate, determination and overall team effort. The Toffees played out of their skins and completely outplayed a team rated as one of the best in Europe, whom were made to look mediocre by the Toffees. David Moyes will have been both delighted with the pair of wins and, more importantly, very optimistic about his sides chances on Saturday in the knowledge that four of their Premiership points have been taken from games with Chelsea this season, and that one of the leagues elite teams couldn’t get the better of them. This should stand them in good stead for what will be another stiff examination from yet another title contender.

With this being a home fixture, in front of what is expected to be a capacity crowd at Goodison, Everton have every chance of registering yet another huge victory over one of England’s elite sides. If they can replicate their performance of that against Chelsea then they’ll be hard to stop in our opinion. They were ship-tight at the back, domineering in midfield whilst remaining bright and lively in the final third. They really did pull out all the stops that night, but can they produce something similar on Saturday in a game which requires some magic on their part? Well, United brushed Everton aside when the pair last met at Old Trafford this season, with United winning 3-0, so Everton will certainly need another big team effort if they are to overhaul the 18 time champions of England on Saturday, but they do have both the form and the potential to claim yet another valuable scalp.

Manchester United

League Position: 2nd

Recent Form: WWWWD 

So long as Man Utd avoid defeat on Saturday at Goodison Park, they will go nine games unbeaten in the league after six wins and two draws. However, Alex Ferguson will know full well that Chelsea are expected to pick up three points this weekend at Wolves, so his United side simply cannot afford to come away from Goodison empty handed, with possibly even a draw being a disappointing result in terms of where it could leave them in the table by the close of the weekend. Their form would suggest they will go close to picking up the three points they so desperately crave, but Everton have proved a tough nut to crack in recent weeks, you just need to ask Chelsea about that, and this could be a fixture where United just might have to settle for the solitary point if they aren’t up to cratch after their Champions League heroics, but United just don’t settle for points nowadays so expect nothing less than a full-hearted performance from them.

The players, though, will be buoyed by their recent success in the Champions League against AC Milan after slamming home three away goals in Italy. We say slamming as that wasn’t really the case as one was a scruffy Paul Scholes strike while the other two came from the man of the moment; Wayne Rooney, both from his head. Man Utd won the first of a two legged encounter 3-2 in the end after out-powering their ageing Italian opponents, although they were hanging on come the end and it will be interesting to see whether their arduous efforts at the San Siro will lead to a slightly below par United performance at Goodison Park.

To be brutally honest, if Wayne Rooney just turns up then United should go mighty close to winning this fixture, such is the form of United’s star man right now. He pretty much single handily won the game in Italy for his side, scoring his first Champions League brace this season, while his many goals in the Premiership have kept United firmly in the hunt for a nineteenth league title. The former Everton frontman is the Premiership’s top goalscorer this season with 21 goals, whilst he’s managed to get on the score sheet in five of United’s last seven league fixtures. You wouldn’t dare say United are a one man team but it doesn’t bare thinking about how United would actually cope without their now talismanic forward.

United do have the CV, the credentials if you like, to win at Goodison as they boast plenty of form, momentum and confidence; all the factors you need for a winning formula. However, like we’ve mentioned on several occasions, when United do come a cropper, and that hasn’t been all that often this season, it has been away from Old Trafford, with four of their five defeats coming outside of Manchester. They could only manage a draw in their last away outing in the league, a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in which Nani, whom will miss this game through suspension, was dismissed for a nasty tackle, and we wouldn’t put anyone off backing the same scoreline (1-1) in a contest which United could win but will do well to win.

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

Everton W: 1 Manchester United W: 7 Draws: 2

•  Man Utd dominate the h2h between the two by winning seven of the last ten meetings. 

•  Victory for United would make it a hat-trick of wins over Everton after winning the two previous meetings at Old Trafford. 

•  The last meeting at Goodison Park, October 2008, finished honours even as the pair played out a 1-1 draw. It was the first time Everton hadn’t lost against United in three years.  

•  United haven’t failed to score at Goodison Park in their previous four visits.  

• Everton’s last home win over Manchester United came back in 2005 when they recorded a 1-0 victory by virtue of a Darren Ferguson goal.

Match Verdict: Draw – 3.60 Bet365

Two teams with plenty of form and plenty of momentum and we feel the pair could very well cancel each other out in a score draw. Everton have been very robust in recent weeks,rapidly becoming an extremely difficult team to play against, and evidentially hard to beat, with just Liverpool doing so in eleven games. They were stunning in their last outing when beating Chelsea and a similar display from them would make them so hard to beat, and to oppose in all fairness. United, though, are enjoying a good run of form themselves and do tend to come on very strong in the latter part of the season. Their midweek win will have sky-rocketed their confidence levels but they they are a tad exposed on the road against considering this is a tough team they’re up against and I feel a draw would be a fair result here and probably one neither manager would be too disgruntled with.

Match Odds:

Everton – 5.00 bWin

Draw – 3.60 Bet365

Manchester United – 1.83 PaddyPower

SoccerBetting Value Tip: 1-1 Correct Score – 6/1 Bet365