Fulham V Everton

Fulham V Everton

Kick-Off: Sunday 13^th September – 16:00 GMT

Venue: Craven Cottage

Fulham

League Position: 15^th

Recent Form: WLL

After losing two on the spin, Fulham aim to get their season back on track but face stiff opposition in the form of Everton. A team Fulham twice in the league to last season, so will Fulham exact some revenge as the Toffee’s come to the Cottage in Sunday’s live encounter in front of the Sky Sports cameras. Fulham manager Roy Hodegeson will hope so but two defeats on the bounce will have left his squad in a slight subdued mood but victory at home to Everton would be just the medicine to give Fulham’s morale a well needed boost.

Fulham started the season brightly, not only winning at their first attempt but also securing their first away win of the season, with Fulham generally a terrible side on their travels. Their away voodoo has been put to bed early and although they couldn’t seal their first home win of the season, losing 2-0 against Chelsea, Fulham will take a lot of confidence from their performances at home last season, with eleven of their victories in the league coming at Craven Cottage.

Were it not for Fulham’s superb home form last season, The Cottager’s may have found themselves in a spot of bother. However, that wasn’t the case but it’s hard to see Fulham emulating such an impressive home record this season as their squad does look a little light. Bobby Zamora is their main attacker it would seem, he scores once in a blue moon, while Danny Murphy is the architect in midfield, and he’s getting on a tad at 32 years of age. Fulham’s shining light at the moment is their defence, which is slightly surprising. Breda Hangeland is their rock at the back, a big one at that, and a calming influence in a pretty solid back four.

Everton

League Position: 17th

Recent Form: LLW

Everton’s dire start to the league did finally take a turn for the better with victory over Wigan, at Goodison Park. However, even that win was by the skin of their teeth, beating a Wigan side who are without a win in three now, by two goals to one. It was a late Leighton Baines penalty that gave Everton all three points but David Moyes will be expecting his starting eleven to put in a much more convincing shift at Crave Cottage as Everton look to record their first away victory of the new season.

The departure of Joeleon Lescott will be felt but Sylvain Distin has been brought in as a straight replacement and he should do an adequate job in Lescott’s big boots. Lescott just had to go, the 6-1 humiliating against Arsenal was evidence of this. Since moneybags City got their own way in the signing of Lescott, Everton have still found defending difficult, albeit conceding just two goals in their last two games. However, when you look at the teams who scored them, it doesn’t fill you with much confidence. Burnley scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for Burnley, a terrible result for Everton, while Wigan scored at Goodison in their moist recent league fixture.

If Everton are to enjoy a successful season in the Premiership, they will need to get their defence in order. It could take a few games for them all to gel back together but it should happen before long. However, what Everton are missing the most is a quality striker. Jo has yet to find the net in the league, while Tim Cahill has yet to hit his glistening form with Louis Saha the only striker to get on the score sheet in their 6-1 defeat against arsenal. However Yakubu is back in training, which is a godsend for Everton fans, and the Toffee’s could find their old goalscoring form with the big Nigerian back in the fray.

Head-to-Head:

Fulham W: 4 Everton W: 6 Draws: 0

An outstanding statistic is that none of the previous ten meetings has produced a draw, with home advantage often proving the deciding factor. However, Everton broke the home trend, which previously seen the previous nine meetings all go the way of the home side, when they beat Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage last season.

Over 2.5 Goals: 3 Under 2.5 Goals: 7

This has generally been a tight affair, especially at Craven Cottage. None of the previous five meetings have produced three or more goals, with just onethree meetings before Everton’s success had gone the way of Fulham, all by the way of a 1-0 scoreline.

Match Verdict: Draw – 23/10 Coral

Another very tight game is on the cards with neither in scintillating form right now. The return of Yakubu will be a huge boost for Everton but Fulham are an extremely tough opponent tog et the better of at Craven Cottage. If Everton were on-song then we may just have a sneakypunt on them but the lack of confidence within the Everton ranks is evident and the draws looks the safest bet.

Match Odds:

Fulham – 17/10 SkyBet

Everton – 19/10 Expekt

Draw – 23/10 Coral

SoccerBetting Tip: Under 2.5 Goals – 4/6 SkyBet