English Premiership 2009/2010

Everton V Stoke City

Kick-off: Sunday 4^th October – 15:00 GMT

Venue: Goodison Park

Everton

League Position: 9^th

Recent Form: LWLWW

After a rather sluggish start to the season, Everton have now recorded two wins on the spin, three in four games, and this recent spell of good form has seen the Toffee’s surge right up the table and finally embrace those in the upper tier of the Premiership table. David Moyes has worked his magic seen all the early turmoil which seen arguably their best defender leave the club on rather bitter terms. Confidence and morale in the Everton dressing room was at a lull but David Moyes has done a fantastic job in aiding his rather slim squad to stable recovery, and into safe ground.

Everton were somewhat fortunate to have gotten a fixture with Portsmouth at this moment of time as Everton are far from their normal glistening self, while Pompey have been struggling all season. The perfect fixture for an Everton team starting their road to recovery. However, Everton did make heavy work of what should have been, on paper anyway, a comfortable win. Louis Saha may have scored just before the break, his fifth of the season, to give Everton a narrow lead, but it was Portsmouth who dominated the second half and should of at least taken a point from that game.

Everton’s defence, especially from corners, was left exposed on several occasions, with Everton’s lack of height a big cause for concern for manager David Moyes. Both Slyvain Distin & Johnny Heitinga have yet settle into the Everton defence while Leighton Baines isn’t the best in the air. Joseph Yobo should have been the rock at the back for Everton but he was well below par on the day. With all this mind, Everton do look extremely vulnerable to the height and aerial strength of Stoke City, a team who have made a Premiership living off set-pieces.

David Moyes will need to work on defending set-pieces this week as his sides most recent defensive display won’t feel any loyal fans with great confidence. The centre-half pairing of Sylvain Diston & Joseph Yobo will come under constant scrutiny at the hands of Stoke City this weekend and they will need to be on top of their game if they are to keep Stoke at bay from the air.

Stoke City

League Position: 12^th

Recent Form: DWLDL

Tony Pulis has seen his team enter into a bit of a rut after going three games without a win, with those of those being a brace of home fixtures that have now gone wanting. However, Stoke have jad to endure an extremely difficult fixture period, with both Manchester United and Chelsea embracing The Brittania in recent weeks, with Stoke ending up on the losing side on both occasions. However, in both game, Stoke put up stern resistance and, were they a tad more clinical in the final third, could of taken at least a point out of both matches.

It’s essential that Tony Pulis guides Stoke to their next victory as soon as possible as confidence is key in football, and when you’re not winning the morale of the team can only decline. For now at least, Stoke find themselves in safe water in 12^th position, but if they let their win less run extend any further then Stoke could pile too much pressure on themselves to get the win needed to lift them back away from the drop zone.

However, this does look a game made for Stoke, especially if Everton defend like they did last weekend. Stoke City are renowned for their superb aerial ability and that could cause Everton all sorts of problems at Goodison. Set-pieces will be key for Stoke in this fixture and we think they could reap the rewards from a few good crosses, or some long throws from a lanky Rory Delap, and possibly sneak a result on Merseyside.

A terrible statistic for Stoke fans is the one where Stoke managed just two away wins throughout the whole of last season, with both coming against two of the worst sides in the league last term in West Brom, who were relegated, and Hull City, a side who finished just one point above the drop. It doesn’t bode well either to know that Everton swiftly dispatched Stoke at Goodison last season, with the Toffees cruising past Stoke in a 3-1 success.

Head-to-Head:

Everton W: 2 Stoke City W: 0 Draws: 0

The Toffee’s completed a league double over Stoke City last term when the pair met for the very first time in the Premiership. Everton beat Stoke 3-1 at Goodison Park while they edged out a thrilling affair back at The Brittania, winning 3-2. Stoke will be desperate to exact some revenge this weekend but they look set to come up short once again.

Match Verdict: Everton to WIN – 4/7 Bet365

This was a tough selection to make as we actually think Stoke could cause Everton a lot of problems, especially from their familiar lethal set-pieces. Everton struggled to compete with Portsmouth in the air last weekend and Stoke boast even more height and more accurate aerial supplies then a pointless Portsmouth. However, David Moyes is a smart manager and will have his players working overtime this week on defending set-pieces. Everton do have a few players who are very good in the air, although they were somewhat inept last weekend. If the centre-half’s; Joseph Yobo & Sylvain Distin are on top of the game then Everton should prosper. If they fall below par again, then Stoke could surprise a few at Goodison. A tricky match to predict, indeed.

Match Odds:

Everton – 4/7 Bet365

Stoke City – 21/4 Expekt

Draw – 3/1 SkyBet

SoccerBetting Tip: BOTH teams to SCORE (YES) – 11/13 Expekt