England Premier League
Saturday 19th December 2020
Kick off at 5:30pm GMT
Venue: Goodison Park
Match Preview:
Just when it looked like Everton were going to nosedive after such a positive start to the new campaign it looks like they have turned it around with two excellent back to back wins. First it was Chelsea with a 1-0 victory and the club followed that up by beating Leicester 2-0 away from home.
That is quite a turnaround for the club and six huge points to boot. Also Carlo Ancelotti will be delighted to see his team keeping two clean sheets in a row and Everton come into this weekend in 5th place and just five points behind league leaders and their city rivals, Liverpool.
These last two games have been very important to Everton, had they lost them, which so easily could have been the case considering the quality they were up against the club would now be in 13th place. However Everton will come into this tricky fixture at the weekend in high spirits and have now gone their last 3 games without defeat.
At home it could be better for Everton who have won 50% of their matches but have won only once at home in their last four, of course that was their last game so that will be encouraging.
Arsenal drew 1-1 at home with Southampton in midweek and the fact that they didn’t lose again has to be a boost for the club. They also came back from a goal down and striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang scored his first league goal since the opening weekend of the season. So it was another two points dropped at home for the Gunners but they could take something from it.
However Arsenal are still in 15th place and even a win here would most probably see them stay in that position. Liverpool have double the points and already we can see that Arsenal can’t be title contenders this season. But even a Champions League spot is 10 points off and that looks like a distant dream now.
If Arsenal do lose and Brighton win their game at the weekend against Sheffield United the Gunners could well fall to 16th. Arsenal have lost 50% of their away games and won just once in their last five. The clubs last away game ended in a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham and before that they drew 0-0 with Leeds.
Team News:
Everton: Allan has a hamstring injury and looks set to miss this match. There has been no confirmation how long the player could be out for. James Rodriguez missed out in midweek but could be back for this match after his calf injury.
Arsenal: Gabriel is suspended after his sending off in midweek. Saed Kolasinac and Reiss Nelson are recovering from head injuries but edging closer to a return both will face tests. Granit Xhaka has a 3 game ban for his red card and will miss this match.
Everton vs Arsenal Head to Head:
Last season this fixture ended 0-0.
It’s been 3 games since Arsenal won away to Everton and the last time it happened was in 2017.
There is a 60% chance to see over 2.5 goals.
Everton vs Arsenal Prediction:
Everton should feel confident that their game can be a problem for Arsenal but they must learn from dropped home points in previous games and start this one well. Arsenal have a lot of problems dealing with crosses and if the home team dictates the pace from the very beginning Everton has the chance to get a win against a big team who are genuinely struggling this season.
One has to wonder if this could be Mikel Arteta’s last game as manager of Arsenal and if this is a loss it could be. The player would have come full circle since he is a former player of both clubs. Arsenal will take something from their midweek game and it was very important for Aubameyang to score, normally when strikers get their first after such a gap they continue, and he remains a major threat for Everton in this match.
Everton vs Arsenal Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (0.0 Everton) at 1.83
Anytime goalscorer: Dominic Calvert-Lewin at 2.20
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